Here's a copy of a rather worrying email I just got from a friend. If it's true, let's all do what we can to stop this madness happening before it starts.
"I think we would all agree that the internet is a pretty cool thing giving us unparalleled opportunities to do cool stuff like getting paid to read web comics, bitch about movies and learn important life lessons about the hazards of giving your bank details to the brother of the treasurer of Nigeria but that could all be about to change.
Imagine how much it would suck if your ISP could decide what sites you were allowed to visit based on commercial arrangements with the owners of those sites.
Imagine if you couldn't google to try and find your favourite "Bread Puddings Illustrated" fan site because said site didn't pay its monthly contribution to your internet company.
Sound a bit far fetched? Unfortunately all this is unfolding as I type. The US senate is currently debating the Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (COPE) that will allow ISPs and their corporate affiliates to do just that.
So what does this have to do with us here in Australia and why are you filling my inbox with this? Well for two reasons, one the US is generally seen as trend setters in these sorts of things. If legislation like this gets up there then it increases the possibility of it happening elsewhere in the world and sooner or later we will all end up like China were access to any online content is subject to one form of censorship or another.
Secondly I'm sure most of you would use the internet to keep in touch with people in other countries, possibly even the US and could open their eyes to just what is going on and what kind of threat this poses to the future of the internet.
So what can you do? Well apart from spreading the word, check out www.savetheinternet.com, a pretty cool website that will give you some background on this rather scary development.
Thanks for your time folks, I'll let you get back to bootlegging the latest season of the OC."
"I think we would all agree that the internet is a pretty cool thing giving us unparalleled opportunities to do cool stuff like getting paid to read web comics, bitch about movies and learn important life lessons about the hazards of giving your bank details to the brother of the treasurer of Nigeria but that could all be about to change.
Imagine how much it would suck if your ISP could decide what sites you were allowed to visit based on commercial arrangements with the owners of those sites.
Imagine if you couldn't google to try and find your favourite "Bread Puddings Illustrated" fan site because said site didn't pay its monthly contribution to your internet company.
Sound a bit far fetched? Unfortunately all this is unfolding as I type. The US senate is currently debating the Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (COPE) that will allow ISPs and their corporate affiliates to do just that.
So what does this have to do with us here in Australia and why are you filling my inbox with this? Well for two reasons, one the US is generally seen as trend setters in these sorts of things. If legislation like this gets up there then it increases the possibility of it happening elsewhere in the world and sooner or later we will all end up like China were access to any online content is subject to one form of censorship or another.
Secondly I'm sure most of you would use the internet to keep in touch with people in other countries, possibly even the US and could open their eyes to just what is going on and what kind of threat this poses to the future of the internet.
So what can you do? Well apart from spreading the word, check out www.savetheinternet.com, a pretty cool website that will give you some background on this rather scary development.
Thanks for your time folks, I'll let you get back to bootlegging the latest season of the OC."
