Monday Moaning

Internet 2, Governments 0

Just a quick moan this morning, but one nevertheless important.

Most internautas (a Brazilian invention) will have heard about things like PIPA and SOPA, fewer have heard about ACTA. The ramifications of the latter only really became apparent after the row about the former two and is now causing some governments to have the same thoughts and retreat like the cowards they are when their tenure in politics is threatened just as the American politicians did over SOPA and PIPA.

Europe has been the main theatre for protests against ACTA, although the British have remained as aplomb as ever.

You can read The internet is angry on BBC News for more details.

These laws are about anti-piracy. The fact that you don’t necessarily download and/or pirate stuff off the net doesn’t mean that you are immune from these government banalities. If you combine these laws with NDAA, which the stupid Americans have already let their politicians pass (December 2011), the threat for the green blogger is very, very real.

You see, as a green blogger you are classed as a ‘domestic terrorist.’ I would lay a pound to a pig’s ears that you , as a green blogger, are on someone’s list somewhere as a dissident or malcontent. And that should scare the living daylights out of you, particularly if you are an American. Even if you are not American, the law allows for you to be extradited from anywhere in the world; just look at what happened to those involved with MegaUploads.

What’s a ‘domestic terrorist’?

Anybody who disagrees with the government, their policies, or threatens the stability of the nation. Anybody who is a conspiracy theorist, who demands change, looks at alternative lifestyles, who is hoarding food and supplies, who buys their products from other than government corporate agencies, who buys from farmer’s markets, who complains about pollution and carbon footprinting. If you Tweet or FaceBook about anything contentious you are in danger. Anybody who reads this blog, anybody who reads your blog are all in the same boat. In fact the interpretation of a ‘domestic terrorist’ is open and flexible and the law allows the president to classify any group of people, or person, as such at anytime.

People who complain about Monsanto’s monopoly on seeds and GMOs, or who take a stand against Fracking and the grip of corporations generally; you are a threat to the government.

If you think I am making a mountain out of a molehill, all I can say to you is “Watch this space!”