Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

A plea for engineers to take back the Internet

Share
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flipboard
Print
Email

Which engineers invented:

I have resisted saying this up to now, and I am saddened to say it, but the US has proved to be an unethical steward of the internet. The UK is no better. The NSA’s actions are legitimizing the internet abuses by China, Russia, Iran and others. We need to figure out new means of internet governance, ones that makes it harder for powerful tech countries to monitor everything. For example, we need to demand transparency, oversight, and accountability from our governments and corporations.

Unfortunately, this is going play directly into the hands of totalitarian governments that want to control their country’s internet for even more extreme forms of surveillance. We need to figure out how to prevent that, too. We need to avoid the mistakes of the International Telecommunications Union, which has become a forum to legitimize bad government behavior, and create truly international governance that can’t be dominated or abused by any one country.

Read and think.

The Internet is the basis of everything we do here at Uncommon Descent.

Comments
Not just china and iran but North america wants to control speech and so the internet. Everybody knows the power of words/images to persuade people to great or near great changes. Good or bad(we have different lists) freedom of speech is dangerous and offensive. The old agreement in the English speaking world was that the priority was truth to lead to justice. So freedom of speech was too be suffered. Today the bosses don't suffer it as they have the truth . The evil establishment of North america is as opposed to speech freedom as anyone in history. The people must not demand freedom of speech but rather demand the truth to lead or maintain justice. Then invoke the old agreement and its merits. freedom of speech must be allowed even if its bad to this or that party. Freedom of speech demands will never bring and maintain this freedom. Its breater objective of truth and justice only will. Creationism knows this very well.Robert Byers
September 8, 2013
September
09
Sep
8
08
2013
10:48 PM
10
10
48
PM
PDT
cantor:
Internet freedom and privacy will soon be a passing footnote in history.
UD would never tolerate someone who deliberately alters the content of a dissenting opinion or the deletion of a dissenting opinion or the mass deletion of posts deemed undesirable simply because of their author. Never.Mung
September 8, 2013
September
09
Sep
8
08
2013
08:55 PM
8
08
55
PM
PDT
The Darwin Lobby is a fascinating subject, I admit. Who would believe that rich industrialists and their toadies would promulgate a decades-long cabal, involving friendly "scientists", philosophers, and rich benefactors in a secret plot to promote themselves and their quack theories. Wiling to lie flatly about their real intentions from the start, they move debate by debate, court case by court case, to discredit the opposition and enthrone their bankrupt and amoral worldview. Oh wait, that's the Discovery Institute.sigaba
September 8, 2013
September
09
Sep
8
08
2013
06:47 PM
6
06
47
PM
PDT
Though a theoretical physicist, I'm pretty sure Sheldon Cooper dreams of being 'big brother' on the internet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sglm8IsXnlYbornagain77
September 8, 2013
September
09
Sep
8
08
2013
06:36 PM
6
06
36
PM
PDT
I’ve marked your words, so I can show them to you when your prediction fails. The censors will be in lock-step with the Darwin Lobby.
Just trying to make you some lemonade.sigaba
September 8, 2013
September
09
Sep
8
08
2013
06:29 PM
6
06
29
PM
PDT
Mark my words, if and when censorship comes to the Internet, the censors will be working for the woo-peddlers and Equal Timers. Censorship is ID’s only hope for prevailing over the long term.
I've marked your words, so I can show them to you when your prediction fails. The censors will be in lock-step with the Darwin Lobby. No "equal time" for ID allowed.cantor
September 8, 2013
September
09
Sep
8
08
2013
05:05 PM
5
05
05
PM
PDT
Sheldon Cooper would be horribly offended to be called an engineer. He's a theoretical physicist. His friend, Wolowitz, is an engineer.Barb
September 8, 2013
September
09
Sep
8
08
2013
03:34 PM
3
03
34
PM
PDT
I for one do not want Sheldon Coopers telling me I'm not smart enough to use the Internet. I've worked on standard committees and under engineer administrators before, no thanks. Engineers are commonly self-righteous and given to a self-sustaing persecution myth that informs all their social interactions. They are scientistic, rationalistic to a fault and intolerant. They're usually also lousy communicators.
The Internet is the basis of everything we do here at Uncommon Descent.
I don't really see the case for how the Internet, unmediated and uncensored, has been a good thing, on net, for opponents of naturalism. It's gotten these ideas an airing, but it remains a fringe interest and has failed as an apologetic or reform program; meanwhile Wikipedia can barely keep up with traffic and Neil deGrasse Tyson will be beaming a new Cosmos into people's living rooms this spring. Mark my words, if and when censorship comes to the Internet, the censors will be working for the woo-peddlers and Equal Timers. Censorship is ID's only hope for prevailing over the long term.sigaba
September 8, 2013
September
09
Sep
8
08
2013
02:49 PM
2
02
49
PM
PDT
Enjoy it will you can. Internet freedom and privacy will soon be a passing footnote in history.cantor
September 8, 2013
September
09
Sep
8
08
2013
02:19 PM
2
02
19
PM
PDT

Leave a Reply