The Great Firewall of China, always seen as something so wrong, something so against liberty and the rights of every human, and something so far away from American ideals set forth by the Founders, seems to have a new brother in the making, The Great Firewall of America.
For those of you who did not know, the great firewall of China symbolizes the aggressive censorship of the internet displayed by the Chinese Government, and the aggression against human rights of speech and protest. It’s nasty and it has even gone as far as to limit or shut down websites, severely limit or shut down social media, and censor any information considered slanderous against the State and any other claimed interests.
Of course, in America, this is coming to us all under the disguise of safety, and at the cost of our liberty.
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety” -Benjamin Franklin
Exaggeration? Not at all. The Protect IP bill, which goes by the name of the E-parasites Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, gives the power to the Government to censor and block any websites inducing piracy and any website “dedicated to infringing activities”. Additionally, it resembles China’s firewall in that if websites aren’t blocked or actions aren’t taken, the Internet service providers are at fault. This bill is being push by both sides of the aisle, the Entertainment Industry, and a few other control freaks who seem to have no respect for the rights outlined by the Constitution.
UPDATE 11/16/2011: Congress will hold hearings for SOPA today, the 16th of November.,2011.
The Great Firewall of America bill gives more power to the Attorney general and the Government, allowing them to put pressure on any Internet Service Provider to shut down a website. And not only that, but foreign websites fall under the same guidelines. Originally, this bill was proposed to satisfy the Entertainment Industry, but it has gradually added random lines and ambiguous words that allow absolute power over what websites are deemed “safe” and which are deemed “infringing”.
If this passes I see no limits. For now, only the Entertainment industry has lobbied to pass the act so their products are protected and our rights are severed. But, what happens when the Pharmaceutical industry does so? The Agriculture Industry? Keep going. What will happen to all the alternative health articles, all the research opposing mainstream views? There is no doubt this seems like more of a horror story out of 1984, but currently, our representatives and congressmen are voting on it.
Update 11/16/2011: Big Pharma seems to be supporting the bill, which is especially scary when you think about what the entertainment industry is getting out of this.
Taking away essential liberty, for the cause of temporary safety, does not work. Benjamin Franklin laid the truth out hundreds of years ago, and I would have to say that this is the type of behavior is what the founding fathers were so against. This does not protect the interests or liberties of the people, which is the Government’s only Constitutional job. How can we claim to be free if our information is censored? How would we even know?
Right now, you and I have a choice to make. It’s a very serious choice because it will effectively determine the future of free speech in this country.It will determine the future of your right to protest the Government. It will determine your right to information, to knowledge, and to reality.
Do we choose to live in a censored world, with censored news, and censored information? Or do we choose to live in a free country, where you and I are guaranteed our rights because we are individuals, and for as long as we don’t infringe on the essential rights of others, we are guaranteed our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
Sign the petition. Contact your congressmen. Contact your government. Contact your friends and your family, and let us start to take responsibility for the maintenance of our freedom. Take the first step of action and oppose the Great Firewall of America.
UPDATE 11/15/2011: Presidential candidate Ron Paul has now come out against SOPA and the Great Firewall of America, along with others, can be seen here: Ron Paul against SOPA
Ahmed Serag
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Whoa I didn’t know about this at all. I’m from Canada but I’m not sure how this will affect us.
Like I said, I don’t think the initial effects will be felt immediately. But the power allows them to shut down ANY website, and I am very skeptical as to what will happen when other industries come in. For instance, what will happen to the great info on your health and fitness site if non-professional advice is deemed unsafe?
And since they can block foreign sites, regardless of where you’re servers are stationed, although the Canadian Government may not follow through with this, you would lose the US traffic (if the health portion ever went through).
That’s what I will be working against.
[...] Freedom and the Great Firewall of America [...]
Ye the US is turning into a police country with all these laws they are passing on to you guys. The terrorism laws etc, wasn’t even aware of this one, but ye I am learning quite a bit from your site so do please keep posting this kind of content before they shut us down. They really do want to impose their propaganda on us and I suppose the internet has been slowly opening peoples eyes a bit to suspect what the government and media say. The internet is a threat to them so I don’t blame them for trying this.
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I think it’s largely the fault of the Government and the people, including me. For one, it’s the people who elect these officials without doing the research, looking up campaign donations, looking up voting records, etc… (I now have, which is why I support Ron Paul).
The Government is at fault in that none of the other industries, including the entertainment industry, would be able to push something like this if Government was limited.
The entertainment industry does it to protect their interests, and they do it by lobbying to give Government more power. Once the Government has power, it will go around shutting own small business, even for completely legal things, all while companies who may not have the best products or best methods, succeed.
Of course, if the market was free and Government was limited, the entertainment industry would have to put money and time into actually creating a better product or better methods, thus making people want to spend their money on them.
Uh – dude – Ron Paul is not president-elect (*yet*) – one has to win the election to be president elect. He is a presidential candidate.
LOL nice catch! I didn’t even notice that, must of been in my own world
[...] in a time when the Constitution needs to be revived and our rights restored, bills like NDAA and SOPA have support from congressmen. It is unacceptable that in a nation required to govern by [...]