This is an invitation to discuss issues related to Internet freedom, censorship, Internet economy and the like. I'm starting a separate discussion thread because it's a large and continuing issue that will get swallowed up by other issues if posted in the political discussions or "hot topics" thread.
Russian data law fuels web surveillance fears
EU ministers push ISPs to censor web after Paris attacks
Right to be forgotten: Wikipedia chief enters internet censorship row
Russia’s ‘right to be forgotten’ bill comes into effect
WhatsApp blocked in Brazil for 48 hours by court
Microsoft case: DoJ says it can demand every email from any US-based provider
U.S. tech companies unite behind Apple ahead of iPhone encryption ruling
Telcos propose licence regime for WhatsApp, Skype, others
Airbnb's legal troubles: what are the issues?
All these and more signal, in my opinion, the beginning of the end of internet freedom, and can be divided into three major trends:
1- Drawing digital borders. Increasingly, states seek to bring under control and localize companies who run cross-border service operations via the internet. Demands to store data locally, pay taxes locally, comply with local state laws and get licensed locally for each country that the service reaches via the Internet create a situation in which Internet universality will soon be impossible; the global digital sandbox is being broken down into separate, increasingly isolated rooms. Logical continuation of these demands will lead to creation of local networks with watertight separation from the global Internet.
2 - The end of Internet-based economy as we know it. The most common business model of Internet age - free on the user's end while collecting revenue elsewhere (via advertising and sale of metadata, sale of value-adding services on top of free base service) is made increasingly difficult to sustain by demands that Internet-based service providers (especially telephony and messaging) become subject to the same regulation as providers with physical infrastructure within state borders. The days of free Skype - and eventually email which is a form of text message - may soon be over. Likewise, the peer-to-peer economy (Airbnb, Uber, Ebay) made possible by the Internet is increasingly targeted for destruction by forcing it to comply with laws designed for brick-and-mortar economy, under which the Internet companies cannot possibly operate.
3- Demand for access to, censorship of and management of any and all stored information. Ever-more laws in ever-more states force upon providers of Internet search, communication and news aggregation mind-boggling demands for access to private information, censorship of global internet search results, creation of mandatory backdoors into secure devices and other things that by their nature threaten Internet freedom.
My pessimistic prediction is that these processes are all but inevitable and cannot be stopped. In the next 20 years, international message boards like Gateworld will be impossible to run.
Russian data law fuels web surveillance fears
A new law has been implemented in Russia that in theory demands companies store data about Russian citizens on Russian territory, throwing thousands of firms with online operations into a legal grey area.
The law, which came into operation on Tuesday, is part of an attempt to wrest control of the internet, which president Vladimir Putin has called a “CIA project”. The Russian authorities are keen to ensure greater access for domestic security services to online data, and lessen the potential for foreign states, especially the US, to have the same access.
The law, which came into operation on Tuesday, is part of an attempt to wrest control of the internet, which president Vladimir Putin has called a “CIA project”. The Russian authorities are keen to ensure greater access for domestic security services to online data, and lessen the potential for foreign states, especially the US, to have the same access.
Right to be forgotten: Wikipedia chief enters internet censorship row
Russia’s ‘right to be forgotten’ bill comes into effect
WhatsApp blocked in Brazil for 48 hours by court
Microsoft case: DoJ says it can demand every email from any US-based provider
U.S. tech companies unite behind Apple ahead of iPhone encryption ruling
Telcos propose licence regime for WhatsApp, Skype, others
Airbnb's legal troubles: what are the issues?
All these and more signal, in my opinion, the beginning of the end of internet freedom, and can be divided into three major trends:
1- Drawing digital borders. Increasingly, states seek to bring under control and localize companies who run cross-border service operations via the internet. Demands to store data locally, pay taxes locally, comply with local state laws and get licensed locally for each country that the service reaches via the Internet create a situation in which Internet universality will soon be impossible; the global digital sandbox is being broken down into separate, increasingly isolated rooms. Logical continuation of these demands will lead to creation of local networks with watertight separation from the global Internet.
2 - The end of Internet-based economy as we know it. The most common business model of Internet age - free on the user's end while collecting revenue elsewhere (via advertising and sale of metadata, sale of value-adding services on top of free base service) is made increasingly difficult to sustain by demands that Internet-based service providers (especially telephony and messaging) become subject to the same regulation as providers with physical infrastructure within state borders. The days of free Skype - and eventually email which is a form of text message - may soon be over. Likewise, the peer-to-peer economy (Airbnb, Uber, Ebay) made possible by the Internet is increasingly targeted for destruction by forcing it to comply with laws designed for brick-and-mortar economy, under which the Internet companies cannot possibly operate.
3- Demand for access to, censorship of and management of any and all stored information. Ever-more laws in ever-more states force upon providers of Internet search, communication and news aggregation mind-boggling demands for access to private information, censorship of global internet search results, creation of mandatory backdoors into secure devices and other things that by their nature threaten Internet freedom.
My pessimistic prediction is that these processes are all but inevitable and cannot be stopped. In the next 20 years, international message boards like Gateworld will be impossible to run.
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