Thread: USA - "Free Wifi" If You Let Us Censor It

LA Times Article Discussing It

Article With Some Technical Details

Okay, for those of you who don't know about this I'll outline what I've seen so far.

The FCC wants to section off a part of the broadband "spectrum" in order to have a government controlled, and regulated, means of internet access. This will, in turn, be offered to lower income families who request it.

So we have a situation in which access to information is being partially controlled by the government directly for the sake of the poor; in exchange for selective access to that information.

What's everybody's thoughts on this?

Poor people don't need the internet, they entertain themselves by looking for food in the trash. But seriously, what's the government going to censor? porn?

you know..
any thing that is against the government or something against their religion
or what SD don't like to read about.

This is fine. The poor should be grateful for whatever they get. I don't understand why the gov would bother to censor it though. It's not poor people will bother to read in-depth articles on what the gov is doing to screw them over. Maybe it's to stop them joining para-military groups or cults.

My guess is they'll spend most of their time streaming One Tree Hill or the OC or whatever the hell crap it is that they're watching nowdays.

A state which censores porn is not legitime.
PERIOD.


We HAVE TO protect our highest values and modern comforts.

And dont forget kids, the internet is brought to you by: PORN, your home entertainment.

I'm going to quote what I said on Digg when someone kept argueing that a government instituted censorship of pornography was a good thing...

You do realize that this would be the foundation of an Internet where far more than just sexually explicit content would be censored, right? Eventually it is entirely possible, and within our current pattern, to start censoring the ability to even gain access to any information that could be deemed politically or "socially" inconvenient.

There's a reason China was mentioned. Look it up.

There is nothing wrong with the 'good intentions' of the people here. Being able to censor the net to stop stuff like kiddy porn is a good thing. The thing is that it is near impossible to implement. Anyone who's tried surfing with filters and firewalls knows how rubbish they are. It isn't some slippery slope, it's either complete censorship or nothing at all.

Originally Posted by Stuyvesant

There is nothing wrong with the 'good intentions' of the people here. Being able to censor the net to stop stuff like kiddy porn is a good thing. The thing is that it is near impossible to implement. Anyone who's tried surfing with filters and firewalls knows how rubbish they are. It isn't some slippery slope, it's either complete censorship or nothing at all.

Two things here:
1) This would have to become a national standard of tax-supported "free wifi." For my concerns to mean anything. Hopefully.
2) Your right, even China and Saudi Arabia (I think it was them) can't seem to keep their internet censorship locked down. Even with the government controlling the filter on the incoming media.

Yeah, hopefully this isn't some trend. Just recently the govenment here in South Africa past a law concerning censorship. It was meant to combat porn in the media (tv mainly), but the law has been so broadly written that the government now has the power to veto all newpaper stories - so much for press freedom.

Luckily we have no electronic information laws - a problem for companies, but good for the average surfer. Amusingly enough our police anti-piracy dept was disbanded after they got caught selling previously confiscated counterfeit dvds, lol.

I don't think we have too much to worry about. Censoring the net is a near impossible task. Even if they could it right, people would find another way.

I get my net for free. I like it that way. ):