Land of the fee, home of the slave.

mkpdavies · 16-12-2006, 03:03 AM

http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/...et_freedom.htm

Quote:

Republican Senator John McCain has introduced legislation that would fine blogs up to $300,000 for offensive statements, photos and videos posted by visitors on comment boards, effectively nixing the open exchange of ideas on the Internet, providing a lethal injection for unrestrained opinion, and acting as the latest attack tool to chill freedom of speech on the world wide web.

McCain's proposal, called the "Stop the Online Exploitation of Our Children Act," encourages informants to shop website owners to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who then pass the information on to the relevant police authorities.

Comment boards for specific articles are extremely popular and also notoriously hard to moderate. Popular articles often receive comments that run into the thousands over the course of time. In many cases, individuals hostile to the writer's argument deliberately leave obscene comments and images simply to sully the reputation of the website owners. Therefore under the terms of this bill, right-wing extremists from a website like Free Republic could effectively terminate a liberal leaning website like Raw Story by the act of posting a single photograph of a naked child. This precedent could be the kiss of death for blogs as we know them and its reverberations would negatively impact the entire Internet.

Under the banner of saving the children from sexual predators, McCain is obviously on a mission to stamp out the influence of the burgeoning blogosphere and its increasing hostility to the warmongering agenda that he fronts for.

"This constitutionally dubious proposal is being made apparently mostly based on fear or political considerations rather than on the facts," warns Kevin Bankston, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.

McCain has publicly expressed his distaste for blogs in the past and this is why any protestation that he is simply aiming to "protect the children" with this legislation falls on deaf ears.

In a May 2006 speech at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, McCain attacked the blogosphere as a refuge of those only infatuated with self-expression. He was trying to minimize the importance of the last true outpost of freedom of speech, the Internet, and portray it as nothing more than a swap shop for egos and hyperbole.

Make the most of the internet for anything but shopping, coz if the yanks start shutting down blogs and forums, then we won't be far behind.

Britannist · 16-12-2006, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkpdavies

http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/internet_mccain_bill_lethal_injection_for_net_free dom.htm

Quote:

Republican Senator John McCain has introduced legislation that would fine blogs up to $300,000 for offensive statements, photos and videos posted by visitors on comment boards, effectively nixing the open exchange of ideas on the Internet...

I've just looked up what 'nixing' means. I thought it was an American-invented word and seem to be correct. It means "giving warning to confederates that a person of authority is approaching." :shock:

An interesting word with some history to it. I just hope that none of these words find their way into English as spoken in England and elsewhere in the world.

NoMoreEUSSR · 16-12-2006, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Britannist

I've just looked up what 'nixing' means. I thought it was an American-invented word and seem to be correct. It means "giving warning to confederates that a person of authority is approaching." :shock:

An interesting word with some history to it. I just hope that none of these words find their way into English as spoken in England and elsewhere in the world.

And meanwhile there I was thinking it was somehow derived from dialectical German meaning "nothing", or something like that!

Britannist · 16-12-2006, 04:18 AM

It's another one of those words they've made up themselves.

I still get quite annoyed when they spell (on American programmes shown on television over here) 'night' as 'nite' :x .

Unbelievable.

John Carter · 16-12-2006, 10:23 AM

One part of my brain is thinking "meh, free speech restrictions".

And the other part is thinking "yay, no more Google results poisoned by endless blog entries wittering on about nothing".

16-12-2006, 04:18 AM	#4 (permalink)
Britannist Uber Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: London Posts: 22,896	American spelling of English words It's another one of those words they've made up themselves. I still get quite annoyed when they spell (on American programmes shown on television over here) 'night' as 'nite' :x . Unbelievable.

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16-12-2006, 10:23 AM	#5 (permalink)
John Carter Uber Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: On Sabbatical Posts: 5,110	One part of my brain is thinking "meh, free speech restrictions". And the other part is thinking "yay, no more Google results poisoned by endless blog entries wittering on about nothing".