Monday, May 10, 2010

A Declaration on behalf of Internet Liberty

Secret negotiations have been taking place for some time on the formulation of an International treaty giving governments all over the world the legal authority to monitor and police all internet activity without warrant. Under the guise of intellectual property protection the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement uses vague wording that could be interpreted not only to track down and apprehend those who allegedly download illegally copied files but also could be used to silence political dissent. It puts legal responsibility on search engines for the content they provide in their results. This creates enormous pressure from a business standpoint on the search engines to self censor their search results to match government guidelines out of fear of legal reprisal from the authorities. Anyone anywhere can be put under surveillance tracked down arrested and criminally prosecuted based on the alleged “illegal” content they encounter online. The treaty does not take into account that anyone who knows how can mask their online identity as someone else leaving all individuals open to prosecution even if they are not involved in piracy or deviant political speech. This international law is the basis for the formation of the modern police state. It has been my conclusion for some time that with the pervasive surveillance oriented nature of modern technology it is only a matter of time before it is abused on a wide scale by governments to control people. This system of control has been pioneered by the Chinese regime and it has enabled them to keep better tabs on deviant political thought.
The western internet has remained relatively free so far but there is no bill of internet rights or sufficient constitutional protection for internet rights. Laws, and more importantly law makers, have not kept up with the pace of technology and this has left open the possibility of exploitation by the powers that be. In order to operate and compete in the modern world one must have access to the internet. All modern citizens are vulnerable to the threat of undue government interference in their privacy. Freedom should not end at the tip of a keyboard. If adopted the international treaty would bypass legislatures and scrutiny and come into force through executive order. Of course I do not assume that all politicians the world over are conspiring to curb freedom and destroy what makes the West better than the rest of the world. What I am saying is that many of today’s politicians of all political stripes grew up in yesterdays world and have not the foresight to see the implications that their decisions today will have on the world of tomorrow. Any law that gives the authorities power over the internet will also give authorities power over the physical world as well. All of your personal information will be subject to constant scrutiny. You will be open to having your front door busted down by a police raid based on what those in power say you can and can not do or think, even if you did nothing. Under international law you will have no sovereign individual rights. No domestic legal protection. What our forefathers fought bloody revolutions for is disappearing behind closed doors by methods conceived of by foreign tyrants. The day will come when it may be necessary to rise up once again to protect our way of life as it is under constant threat from both foreign and domestic pressures. A free sovereign society is always under attack as the very idea is threatening to the opulent privilege of the old world tyrants. Vigilance to such subtlety crafted seismic shifts in the human condition is not common among the corrupted materialistic masses of lambs being led to the slaughter. From this day forward let all those who heed the call look upon existence through the prism of justice that they may be protected from the evils of eternal enslavement.