Congress Condemns Belarus For Doing A Bunch Of Things It Wants To Do
from the seriously? dept
Recently, the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Belarus for various human rights violations. It lists out all the various rights violations, and some of them are certainly pretty bad, and I have no doubt that the government of Belarus is doing some highly questionable things. Yet, there's one section of the resolution that seems especially interesting, given certain actions in Congress lately:The Government of Belarus has restricted freedom of expression on the Internet by requiring Internet Service Providers to maintain data on Internet users and the sites they view and to provide such data to officials upon request, and by creating a government body with the authority to require Internet Service Providers to block Web sites.Fascinating. Because, Congress here in the US is currently debating two bills that seem to do exactly that as well. There's the data retention bill (disguised as an anti-child porn bill) and there's the PROTECT IP Act, which would give the government power to require ISPs to effectively block web sites. It's as if Congress doesn't even realize what it's doing and what it's saying.
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Filed Under: belarus, censorship, congress, internet filtering, privacy
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We're Different!
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Re: We're Different!
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Re: Re: We're Different!
Martian Conservatives are an extremely downtrodden population, people!
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(Translation: We love big business!)
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Re: Re: Re: Re: We're Different!
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: We're Different!
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: We're Different!
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Re: We're Different!
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Re: We're Different!
"Sometimes you have to destroy the village in order to save it." That seems to be their attitude.
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America, Land of the Free?
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Re: America, Land of the Free?
only way to get our country back is to make sure to vote indie or vote for other parties than reps or dems.
we must fight to get our freedom back.
the present government is nothing but a hollow shadow of what it should be.
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Re: Re: America, Land of the Free?
2 words: Electoral College.
Your vote doesn't matter. In reality, Donald Duck has won the presidential election 3 terms in a row--but is there a cartoon duck representing us to the world? NO!
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U.S. - Lords of Creation
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Re: U.S. - Lords of Creation
They may be laughing behind our back, but until they do it to our face, no one will care.
Damn. Too cynical in my old age.
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Re: Re: U.S. - Lords of Creation
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So they are laughing as they are kissing our asses.
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Don't confuse the politicians with the people.
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Re: U.S. - Lords of Creation
Are you having a bad mental day?
People who need to hate to feel better about themselves are very easily spotted.
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Re: Re: U.S. - Lords of Creation
read it that way and it makes sense as well as being true.
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Do as I say, not as I do (or say)
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Re: Do as I say, not as I do (or say)
Still, classic "do as I tell you but not as I do" case. However, the full weight of US Army is taking its toll in the US economy ;)
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Re: Re: Do as I say, not as I do (or say)
Military action is the crack cocaine of the American public. They're hooked, and they'll spend their way into financial ruin on it.
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That's pretty close to it.
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It's because they really don't.
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A requirement to even get into Congress is to master doublethink.
This is not a /flaw/ to Congress, but its main /feature/.
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As for the censorship part, I'd imagine Congress would argue that although it's creating infrastructure that could be used for the same sort of censorship in the US, the difference lies in the content of the sites to be blocked, and the courts in the US will prevent us from falling down that "slippery slope" (thanks to the First Amendment).
Of course, given how frequently almost everyone engages in using copyrighted content without permission and how expensive going to court is, I'm personally quite afraid of this "slippery slope"; there's also, of course, the fact that US encouragement of copyright enforcement can give foreign governments a convenient excuse for their own censorship.
I can see though how members of Congress could reasonably believe their positions on Belarus and PROTECT IP are consistent.
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Why would the government bother with those pesky warrants, when they can just use Post-It Notes?
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--What about due process?
-That could take forever to fianlly get through the courts, and who knows how many illegal aliens will steal US jobs while they do it. We must act now.
--What about websites which are based in other nations?
-The interent has no borders. Its just 1s and 0s moving through a series of pipes. There are several rules regarding what falls under this Protect IP Act, and how action is to be taken.
--I have read the Act which I received from your office, and your rules read more like vague generalizations which could be construed to mean a lot more than just these "rouge" website as you call them. You could easily twist some of this language to be used against someone who is doing nothing more than criticizing someone or something. This sounds a lot like the laws of the oppressive regimes which we have lambasted through resolutions and interviews. Most recently Belarus. What makes us different than them if we move forward with this?
-.........That is all I have to say on the matter. If you have further inquiries please forward them to my office and my staff will be happy to answer them for you. Good day.
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"Do what we say, not what we do."
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The US is very quickly becoming a police state in it's own right. The 301 is a laughing joke among other counties. The major ISPs have just agreed to forward notices on infringements without having any necessary proof such is happening. No matter what good face is put on it, the end result of ignoring such warnings is removing you from the net or at best very limited internet. Other countries can now just claim they are looking for their own copyright infringers without having to prove they are actually doing it. Could be political or persecution but will still work out to be the same.
This country could do with a serious dose of reality checks on what human rights are. The UN claims the internet is a human right.
We have the FBI running around doing unchecked surveillance allowing them to put GPS on vehicles, blank check by the courts when they bother to get permission to do so, and watching where cell phones are while monitoring to know where that individual is. All hall marks of the police state.
Homeland Security is just short of 'the fatherland' or 'motherland', take your pick.
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Yeah, a bunch of dopey freedomtards. And they're running around on the loose. Something needs to be done about that.
/s
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Don't start inserting modifiers just to satisfy your imagination.
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Congress...
Pot. Kettle. Black.
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Sadly, it appears that the US deserves its governing by morons. I blame mass media.
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Anyone know the bill number?
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Re: Anyone know the bill number?
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-1981
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USA
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Re: USA
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bitter irony
RxRights is a national coalition of individuals and organizations dedicated to promoting and protecting American consumer access to sources of safe, affordable prescription drugs. We're encouraging consumers to send letters to the President and Congress urging them to protect our right to safe and affordable medicine by opposing the PROTECT IP Act. For more information or to voice your concern, visit www.RxRights.org.
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