Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Internet in 2020 is Really Bad for Free Speech

Internet cafe
It used to be possible to surf almost anonymously; now they have 'free' Wi-Fi that tracks your MAC address and much more (to hold you accountable)



Summary: It has been getting a lot harder to publish the truth on the World Wide Web because of growing levels of censorship, general demise of journalism as a profession (with special legal protections), and surveillance that's used to discourage essential speech/communications

THE older days -- be it any arbitrary time after the invention of prints or mere language -- had information disseminated on papyrus/paper (like newspapers) and in books. It was hard to have stuff retracted or all copies of papers/books recalled. Censorship in the age of the Internet -- and Social Control Media in particular -- is another matter. See, the Internet was originally made to be robust to nuclear strikes, less so to DDOS attacks (which came much later). Then there's SLAPP and other methodologies geared towards censorship. The net effect is misinformation or lack of access to accurate information. We're not talking about fake (as in fabricated) news here but suppressed reports, typically about people with a lot of money and power (and of course legions of lawyers). Over the years we've had a number of encounters with them, including two law firms that EPO under Benoît Battistelli hired to bully me and spy on me. António Campinos is the same; he's still blocking this site and has done so for over 2 years. Campinos is probably what his late father would have fought. If he didn't die in Africa, he would likely have suffered a heart attack seeing what a dictator his son became, fighting for corporate imperialists.



"The net effect is misinformation or lack of access to accurate information."We've just reproduced 4 blog posts which in a typical fashion a patent troll (through lawyers) tried to water down or altogether remove. The EPO demanded that we remove several blog posts as well. They're all in tact though. One was unpublished only temporarily (until the dust settled). This was unprecedented for us. We'll soon publish our 28,000th blog post; the only other post we unpublished (and remains unpublished) is one that conflated one company with another because they have identical names. We weren't forced to remove it but chose to remove it because of this confusion. That's one in almost 28,000.

Internet advertisement fixed
The Internet added the "Web" (WWW) less than 30 years ago and it became a large-scale spying operation



There's this antiquated notion or false assumption that on the Internet everybody gets a voice; in practice, however, it's a little more complicated than that because there are multiple levels at which sites can be gagged, blocked, or forced to cease operations. Then there's stuff like platform liability and corporate profits/shareholders, which motivate Social Control Media giants to censor posts if not terminate entire accounts (along with everything they ever posted).

Internet
Web browsers are typically monopolies (Netscape, MSIE, now Chrom*). Even without the WWW there are still cellular networks and the Internet, which are turning into 'Stalin's Dream' in 'Corona Times'.



Free speech in today's World Wide Web is a complicated subject. It's worldwide, but it's mostly controlled by the US; it's a Web of imperial and corporate censorship. There are multiple levers, ranging from DNS lookups to blacklists (denylists, whatever) and from Web hosts to litigation (or even threats of it). At present, blowback (backlash) associated with censorship is one of the few things that can still make various parties hesitant to muzzle critics. And it's far from ideal a situation. Free speech Utopia does not mean death threats everywhere; it's a crime to threaten to kill someone, just as Free software that directly assists crime or encourages criminal behaviour would likely be banned by sites like GitHub. Never mind if GitHub itself is assisting violence actively committed by the state (for profit even!) whilst it distracts us with some "Arctic" fantasy (PR ploy).

"A lot of stuff we publish here is based on material and information submitted anonymously."Anonymous speech remains very valuable; it's not just for Internet trolls. Whistleblowers need it too and in that sense anonymous speech can help stop or prevent crime. So the state and its media come up with demonising terms, which insist on accountability no matter the risk of reprisal/retribution from corrupt officials.

Internet
The media uses terms like "Dark Web" (or even worse words) for anything that's not under surveillance; we're being persuaded to associate privacy with crime



A lot of stuff we publish here is based on material and information submitted anonymously. Are the submitters criminals? No. They typically expose crimes they're aware of. Corruption thrives when mass surveillance becomes a form of a 'solidarity' (as if all states are inherently benign and their exposers are malicious actors, saboteurs).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Deja vu: Hitler's Birthday, Andreas Tille elected Debian Project Leader again
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Microsoft's 'Lawsuit Diplomacy' (SLAPPs Riding UK Libel Law and Piggybacking UK GDPR, Inapplicable!) Will Only Give a Worse Image to Microsofters (and Microsoft), Give Exposure to Even More Suppressed Facts and Scandals
Microsoft came to dominate some sectors because of (or owing to) crimes; Microsoft won't just go away without some more crimes.
Five (or Three) Years Without Social Control Media
Glyn Moody quit X (Twitter)
Why GNU/Linux is Growing
There's growing interest in GNU/Linux right now because people do not fancy buying a new PC just to 'upgrade' (more spying) Windows
 
Links 20/04/2025: Partly Assorted Scientific and Political Leftovers
Links for the day
Links 20/04/2025: Many Data Breaches and Growing Censorship Wave
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/04/2025: Canadian Elections and "Use the Best Tools You Have for the Current Environment"
Links for the day
Links 20/04/2025: Bleeding Constitution and ChatGPT Infuriates Users Some More
Links for the day
Chinese OEMs (and World's Largest) Pave a Path Out of Microsoft Windows
So Microsoft now values (or prices) Vista 11 at just $140?
Gemini Links 20/04/2025: Contradictions of Mark Carney and Blog Questions Challenge
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 19, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 19, 2025
Electronics in People's Bedrooms
Modern technology not only blurred the gap between "functions" of rooms
Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Contingencies, GTD, and Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 19/04/2025: Economic Races, Charm Offensives, and USB-C Rants
Links for the day
Links 19/04/2025: "Infantilization at Big Tech" and LLM Slop Abused in Defiance of Workplace Rules/Policies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Palm Addiction and Real Experts
Links for the day
Egypt is Controlled by Google, Not Microsoft
Moving from Microsoft to Google is not the answer
Microsofters Say They Cannot Find a Job (That They Want) Because of Techrights, But Techrights Merely Reported on Their Behaviour
Quit pointing the finger at people who are recipients of abuse or merely mention the abuse
Free Software and Standards - Not Marketing Blitz - Needed Amid Growing Severity of Dependency on Hostile Suppliers (or Another Country's Sovereignty)
ZenDiS can be described as the "Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration"
When It Comes to the Web, Google is Evil and It Destroys the Web's Integrity With LLM Slop
Even academia, which is meant to keep standards high, is being lured into LLM slop
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 18, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 18, 2025
Links 18/04/2025: "Fentanylware (TikTok) Exodus Continues", Chinese Weapons Allegedly in Russia Already
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Price of Games and State of Tinylog
Links for the day
Sounds Like IBM is Preparing for Mass Layoffs/Redundancies in Red Hat, Albeit in "PIP" (Performance Improvement Plan) or "Relocation" Clothing
This isn't the "old" IBM; they're applying pressure by confusion and humiliation
Gemini Links 17/04/2025: Role of Language and Back to Mutt for E-mail
Links for the day
"Sayonara" (さよなら), Microsoft
Windows had fallen below iOS in some countries
Links 18/04/2025: Layoffs at Microsoft Infosys and Qt Becoming Increasingly Proprietary (Plus Slop)
Links for the day
Google News is Dying
treating MElon's algorithmic/biased site as a source of verified news
Microsoft's Attack Dogs Have Failed. Now What?
It would be utterly foolish to assume that Microsoft has any intention of changing
All Your "Github Projects" Will be Gone One Day (Just Like Skype)
If you have code you wish to share and keep, then start learning how to do so on your own
To Understand Who's Truly Controlling You Follow the Trail of Censorship (or Self-Censorship)
Do not let media steal and steer the narrative; CoCs are not about "social justice", they're about corporate domination
Fedora Already Lost Its Soul Under IBM
Fedora used to be very strict compared to many other distros and it had attracted very bright volunteers
Microsoft is Still Attacking GNU/Linux and the Net
Microsoft bribed the government using money that did not even exist
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 17, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 17, 2025
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Pinephone Pro and Linux is too Easy
Links for the day