[governance] RE: Has U.S. started an Internet war? By Bruce Schneier + tinyURL

[Daniel Kalchev]

On 20.06.13 01:38, Ian Peter wrote:
> Daniel, your basic assumption seems to be that nothing that 
> governments can do can affect the future of the Internet. Here I 
> disagree. I think they have enormous power to break up the Internet, 
> and there are plenty of examples out there already of how governments 
> can restrict open access. Yes, there are Tor and other workarounds in 
> some cases, but for the majority, national firewalls and censorship 
> are effective.

I have no assumption related to whether "Governments" can affect the 
future of the Internet. In my opinion, Governments have no mandate to do 
anything related to Internet, as such -- *although they may have mandate 
to regulate activities that use Internet **technology or resources*. 
This is quite an difference in my opinion and probably the core of our 
"disagreement".

Things might have been different, if Governments in fact built and 
controlled the Internet -- which is not the case. But Governments are 
free to build and control their very own Internets: in fact, some do --- 
thing is, nobody else is interested in participating. It could of course 
be fixed, by disallowing competition...

As an example, I don't think any Government has any mandate to regulate 
Earth's gravity. As a consequence, water drops will continue to fall 
from the sky and fill rivers that will continue to flow (the Internet), 
despite the fact that in some places artificial structures prevent that 
free flow (national firewalls?). Governments could however pretend they 
have mandate to control "national water resources" which comprise of all 
water flows trough "their" territory -- and insist on regulating anyone 
who "operates with water".
However, if those who control the flow of water on Earth (God?) decide, 
that they wish that no single drop of water will fall on the territory 
of an particular country, there is nothing the government of that 
country can do about their "mandate to control water" -- except of 
course to declare God hostile, and who knows, start a war :)
If Governments could alter Earth's gravity as they wish, they could 
cause rain drops intended for another country to drop on their "own" 
sold, or the other way around.


> As you say,the Internet is based on peer trust. I think the big issue 
> we face is that the trust is now highly questionable to many of us. 
> It's the breach of trust by a dominant stakeholder that concerns me 
> and leads me to believe that the path back to internet freedom may be 
> difficult.

I do not believe the US Government is your peer.

Your statements strikes me as if you believed the US Government is the 
sole guardian of the Internet and multistakeholderism.. This is 
interesting, as by definition you cannot trust any (elected) Government, 
as on the next election you end up with different set of "governors" 
with possibly completely different goals and agendas.

> But I appreciate your optimism!

Thanks for the kind words, but I am not exactly optimist.
If the drink is not to my taste, the glass is always half full (I don't 
want any more).
If the drink is good, the it is always half empty (needs to be refilled).

But in this particular discussion, I am merely pointing out common sense.

Daniel
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