Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The Wiki Blackout


Good for them.

The SOPA and PIPA acts, like all these laws with nice-sounding names and acronyms are bullshit.

Just as PATRIOT act had nothing to do with patriotism let alone love of country, just as No Child Left Behind was designed to leave children behind, and Clean Air was pure Orwellian double-speak - these acts are not primarily to protect intellectual property rights but to protect the behemoths of the media industry, restrict the free flow of information and opinion.

Years ago when Deng Xiaoping started the controlled reforms to turn China into am economic superpower, the silly pundits of the age said this was good because these measures of economic freedom meant that China would "open up" and "become more like the West".

Silly me, I thought, that may be so, but the flip side is that the West will become more like China, and that has proven to be more correct than I like to think about.

So, good for Wikipedia, but gee, I miss her already although I will see her again tomorrow, but if these laws are passed in their present form, the Internet will shrivel and the flow of free information and opinion will dry up - not just because of these laws but because of the laws which will folow, obviously as we become more like China, reasons for the necessity "to protect our freedom" will be found and trumpted by the millionaire pundit prostitutes of the mass media.

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