Re Lauren's Blog: "Why We May Have to Cut Europe Off from the Internet"

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Hasan Diwan <hasan.diwan () gmail com>
> Date: June 8, 2018 at 19:13:53 EDT
> To: "dave () farber net" <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Lauren's Blog: "Why We May Have to Cut Europe Off from the Internet"
>
> [for IP, if you wish; comments inline; use my name]
> Fellow IP members,
>
> > On Fri, 8 Jun 2018 at 14:33, Dave Farber <farber () gmail com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
> > > Date: June 8, 2018 at 3:23:17 PM EDT
> > > To: nnsquad () nnsquad org
> > > Subject: [ NNSquad ] Lauren's Blog: "Why We May Have to Cut Europe Off from the Internet"
> > >
> > >
> > > Why We May Have to Cut Europe Off from the Internet
> > >
> > > https://lauren.vortex.com/2018/06/08/why-we-may-have-to-cut-europe-off-from-the-internet
> > >
> > >
> > > It's not a joke. It's no hyperbole. If the European Union continues its
> > > current course, the rest of the world may well have to consider how to
> > > effectively "cut off" Europe from the rest of the Internet -- to create
> > > an "Island Europe" in an Internet communications context.
>
>
> To which we who actually live in Europe have to remind you that (a) not all countries are bound by GDPR and (b) we 
> are the world's richest economic area, so your companies will suffer a loss of profits.
> > > For those of us involved with the Net since its early origins, the
> > > specter of network fragmentation has long been an outcome that we've
> > > sorely hoped to avoid. But continuing EU actions could create an
> > > environment where mechanisms to tightly limit Europe's interactions with
> > > the rest of the global Internet may be necessary -- not imposed with
> > > pleasure, not with vindictiveness, but for the protection of free speech
> > > around the rest of the planet.
> > >
> > > The EU will later this month be voting on a nightmarish copyright
> > > control scheme that would impose requirements for real-time "copyright
> > > filtering" of virtually all content uploaded to major and many minor
> > > Internet sites, with no protections against trolling, and the certainty
> > > of inappropriately blocking vast quantities of public domain and other
> > > materials, with no real protections against errors and no effective
> > > avenues for appeals. Please see:
> > >
> > >   "On June 20, an EU committee will vote on an apocalyptically stupid,
> > >   internet-destroying copyright proposal that'll censor everything from
> > >   Tinder profiles to Wikipedia"
> > >   ( https://boingboing.net/2018/06/07/thanks-axel-voss.html ).
> > >
> > > Even if this specific horrific proposal is voted down, it's important to
> > > review how we came to this juncture, as the EU has increasingly
> > > accelerated its program to become the Internet's global censorship czar,
> > > in ways that even countries like China and Russia haven't attempted to
> > > date.
> > >
> > > As far back as 2012 and earlier, in "The 'Right to Be Forgotten': A
> > > Threat We Dare Not Forget"
> > > ( https://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000938.html ), I warned of the
> > > insidious nature of content censorship schemes flowing forth from
> > > Europe, and I've consistently warned that -- like the proverbial camel's
> > > nose under the tent -- Europe would never be satisfied with any
> > > concessions offered by Internet firms.
>
>
> The "right to be forgotten" is merely the right to correct factually incorrect information. If somebody writes my 
> name as "Diwan Hasan" instead of "Hasan Diwan", I can take it to court, submit my identification and the webpage 
> would be ordered to change the name. Or if someone writes that "Hasan Diwan is a member of al-Mohajiroun" (a 
> now-banned, British Islamist group), I could have this corrected by submitting my RESPECT Party membership card. This 
> makes the process of data mining easier, not harder. 
> > > Time has borne out my predictions. In ensuing years, the EU has expanded
> > > its demands until now it considers itself in key respects to be the
> > > global arbiter of what should or should not be seen by Internet users
> > > around the world.
>
> It doesn't consider itself as such -- it is. GDPR wouldn't be necessary if the search engines could be trusted to vet 
> the indices for truth, but as has been shown, Google and its competitors can not be trusted with this power. 
> > > Like other of civilization's information control tyrants, a taste of
> > > censorship powers by the EU has inevitably led to utter censorship
> > > gluttony, and the sense that "we know best what those stupid little
> > > people should be allowed to see" is as old as human history, long
> > > predating modern communications systems.
> > >
> > > European citizens are of course free to elect whatever sorts of
> > > governments that they choose. If that choice is for information control
> > > tyrants whose pleasure is to victimize their own citizens, so be it.
>
>
> Nobody elects the EU Commission. This was one of the complaints of the Brexit camp. Who do I elect? My local MP. They 
> are most likely backbenchers (not in party leadership), so have little influence on policy. I also elect an MEP, who 
> is a member of a bloc. Finally, I elect a local councillor, who is responsible for rubbish collection and little 
> else. -- H
> > > But if Europe continues to insist that its tyranny of censorship and
> > > information control must be honored by the rest of the world, then the
> > > rest of the world will be reluctantly forced to treat Europe as an
> > > Internet pariah, and use all possible technical means to isolate Europe
> > > in manners that best protect everyone else's freedom of Internet speech.
> -- 
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