Bonum Certa Men Certa

Techrights in the Coming Decade: The Free Speech (Online) Angle

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jun 24, 2024,
updated Jun 24, 2024

THE Techrights Web site never had to remove an article. In nearly 18 years everything published remained intact. This is something we're very proud of. That's not to say we never issued corrections, but we probably corrected less than 1 in 1,000 articles - sometimes due to mistaken interpretation or something to that effect.

Online, in general, free speech is dying. As more people "go online" the quality of discourse goes down - to the point where Bruce Schneier says (last week): "There has been a lot of toxicity in the comments section of this blog. Recently, we’re having to delete more and more comments. Not just spam and off-topic comments, but also sniping and personal attacks. It’s gotten so bad that I need to do something."

LWN said something similar only weeks earlier.

In IRC, we've had to deal with people saying outright illegal things in recent years. We needed to act and we then explained who was responsible for it. They didn't like being held accountable, as one might expect...

If you spout out stuff like "gas the Jews" in IRC networks, then prepare to face consequences for such "speech"...

Anyway, the nature of online discourse has led to passage of new laws, deplatforming of many people/whole platforms, and even SLAPP. We want to write more about these issues because the dangers prevail and they matter to more and more people.

This isn't the 1990s Web (or Internet, which started in respectable institutions, not some terror groups with access to Wi-Fi). This is 2024. The Web is a mess. As Andy explained the other day in his long analysis:

People talk about "The Internet", as if a singular routable network still exists. It does not. It was a nice idea, but it disappeared ten years ago, replaced by the "Splinternet", divided into smaller interests. It could, in effect, not sustain itself. If we have ever achieved global connection, it was only briefly.

The idea of a universal, common service for the betterment of humanity is an attractive one. It holds within it the promise that we can avoid wars, and solve problems together.

We are coming see computer security the same way, as a kind of commons that raises the wealth and happiness of everybody, and could promise comparable benefits.

Recognition of a universal right to digital security - including not just privacy as freedom from technical intrusion but self-determination, secure communication and control of our data - would seem like a natural progression for humanity at this point in history.

However, in reality there is almost always a tragedy of the commons where uncertainty, greed and ontological insecurity leads to concentration of capability and leaves some group with no "security resources" at all. So-called "surveillance capitalism" is the face of a system that benefits from one group taking away security from another. It is an "insecurity industry".

The "Arab Spring" frightened power everywhere. Free trade without tax and customs borders, and without the control of world intellectual property, trade and economic organisations (WIPO, WTO and WEF) was too much for governments. The disintegration of "intellectual property" was terrifying, not for authors and creatives but for those publishers and "owners" by whom ideas are controlled.

So the Internet was split by nation state and corporate firewalls into silos which keep cultures and groups of customers separate, captive and controlled as chattel. Big social media, within walled gardens, was in fact a godsend and timely solution for authoritarian states.

The Internet was never a thing so much as an ideal. Many of those public interest ideals have been lost to misgoverning and corruption. The power of profit-seeking mega-corporations, mainly from the US, along with a growing realisation by people and governments concerning the negative side-effects of a connected world, have pushed it back. On the surface where ordinary people experience the Internet, the popular vision of globalisation through digital liberation and peer relations seems dead. It will remain dead, or at least unhealed in permanent split state, so long as "security" can be made an issue.

"Splinternet" is the future of the Internet. We already see this in the West, not just places like China and Russia. There are many Russian sites that my ISP prevents me from accessing, even the English language https://rt.com/ ("We can’t connect to the server at rt.com."), so it's clearly a global issue, not just some oppressive nations' localised peril.

Free speech is a fundamental tenet of a free society. We're losing both.

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

The Goal of Coopetition Assumes You're Friends
it will never work with Microsoft
Seductive Mirage or Allure of Complex, Proprietary Coffee Machines (or Similar White Elephants)
Software is a lot like those things
Hate Mail From Anonymous Cowards
if this persists, we'll need to escalate
Informal Open Letter to the Lawyer of the Microsofters (on Who's Funding the SLAPPs Against Techrights)
Whenever I ask about the funding they try to change the subject and act all aggressive
 
The Man Who Helped Microsoft Kill Linux is Trying to Delay Our Lawsuits Against Him
By conservative estimates, and based on court documents submitted by them, they're prepared to spend over a million dollars on lawyers, fighting against me and my wife
Gemini Links 10/08/2025: Gen Con 2025 and Framework Laptop
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 09, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 09, 2025
The Register MS (Microsoft) or The Register AI (Slop)?
What a slopfest!
Is Red Hat About to Give the Boot to GNOME People Who Helped Microsoft 'Secure' (Monopolised) Boot?
It was always a dumb idea to play along with Microsoft's hardware mischief
Sales of Windows on PCs (Windows Licences) Go Down
Microsoft has a big problem in its hands
The Hype That Microsoft and The Register MS (Among Others) Promote Helps Stage DDoS Attacks on Free Software Sites
Microsoft is, to put it bluntly, pure evil
Links 09/08/2025: Putin Allegedly to Visit Alaska (Which He Deems Part of Russia), Mike Tyson Sued for Copyright Infringement
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, LinuxSecurity, and Google News With Its Slopfarms of Choice
SEO spam, made with LLMs
Follow the Money: The Register MS Gets Paid to Promote "Hey Hi" Ponzi Scheme/Hype, Some Fake 'Articles' Might Be Composed by LLMs Already
paid to promote slop
Gemini Links 09/08/2025: Rethinking Aliases and Posting on Gopher vs. the Web
Links for the day
Links 09/08/2025: Apollo 13 Astronaut Jim Lovell Dies, Slop Future Bleak
Links for the day
After Shutting Down Studios, Divisions, Applications (e.g. Skype) Microsoft is Also Shutting Down 'Apps'
Cuts all around as layoffs persist this month, Microsoft tries to get many people to resign, and debt skyrockets
Most of Geminispace Can Probably Fit on a CD-ROM or a DVD (the Textual Part)
If one excludes very large capsules and ones that contain non-textual contenty
Eventually UEFI 'Secure Boot' Will be Dropped (Users Will Demand Its Removal and Boycott Its Pushers)
we expect OEMs will just listen to users
The Register MS: We Know Slop is a Bubble and Mindless Hype, But We Get Paid to Participate
Call out the culprits
There Are Probably Over a Million Pages in Geminispace
there are two many limitations which merit a mention when it comes to assessing magnitude
Microsoft Lunduke is Just Provoking People for Provocation's Sake
Be forewarned and remember where this guy came from: Microsoft
Besieged by Plagiarists Who Play With LLMs and Image Fusions
We really need to exercise or use our collective voice to oppose Serial Sloppers
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 08, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 08, 2025
Gemini Links 09/08/2025: Water Painting and Political Violence
Links for the day
Slopwatch: LLM Sloppers in Google News, LinuxSecurity, and More
they also perpetuate some falsehoods as the LLMs lack any comprehension
Links 08/08/2025: China King of Plastics and US Dictator Plans to Meet Russian Dictator
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/08/2025: Cracking a Family Member's Password and Overdose of Slop
Links for the day
Red Hat's Latest Talent Hunt, Day Ahead of Mass Layoffs, is Yet Another Microsoft Executive
Red Hat will apparently commence mass layoffs early this coming Monday
Links 08/08/2025: "Quit Facebook" and High Cost of Microsoft/Windows Shown Again ("BlackSuit")
Links for the day
Good Morning, Readers of The Register MS
Things The Register MS could (but does not) cover this morning
Why Gemini Protocol Has a Bright Future
Maybe Gemini Protocol's promise becomes more appealing as the Web turns to slop and bloat
It's a Lot Easier to Participate in the Unethical System Than to Oppose Injustices in It
Going after powerful and high-budget interests is never easy
Microsofters Filed Two SLAPPs Against Us, Now They Cannot Keep Up With Judges' Orders
For over 4 months already their facilitator in London has been under investigation by British authorities because of what's being done to my wife and I
Censorship Regarding Red Hat Layoffs
Talk about this? They'd rather not.
Struggling to Cut Costs, Microsoft Continues Shutting Down and Cancelling Stuff This Month
There are August layoffs at Microsoft
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 07, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 07, 2025
Fake 'Linux' Articles, Written by Bots to Take Traffic Away From Real Articles
LLM slop helps replace information with junk or misinformation
When Google's Googlebombing of "Gemini" Was Not Enough; They Now Also Googlebomb "Gemini Space"?
We know GAFAM not only worries about Gemini Protocol but also attempts to 'infiltrate' Geminispace
The Register MS Promotes Microsoft Slop, Assumes All Readers Use Microsoft Windows
Microsoft really dominates the site
Gemini Links 08/08/2025: KDE/Qt Development and What's Missing From "Retro"
Links for the day