CDZ How the internet is destroying us

[Derideo_Te]

In a nutshell, our government has decided that encryption is a weapon of mass destruction. Couple that with the common understanding that our government is weeding through all of our internet communications, such as email... and it becomes painfully obvious why our government has decided to make strong encryption illegal.

Which laws make it illegal to use strong encryption?

Obviously you don't know much about encryption because if you did you would know that it is possible to hack anything given enough computing power and time.

Your Libertarian paranoia is no substitute for actual subject matter knowledge.

 

[RKMBrown]

In a nutshell, our government has decided that encryption is a weapon of mass destruction. Couple that with the common understanding that our government is weeding through all of our internet communications, such as email... and it becomes painfully obvious why our government has decided to make strong encryption illegal.

Which laws make it illegal to use strong encryption?

Obviously you don't know much about encryption because if you did you would know that it is possible to hack anything given enough computing power and time.

Your Libertarian paranoia is no substitute for actual subject matter knowledge.

I linked to the laws that make it illegal. Why did you think I provided those links?

While it is theoretically possible to hack anything given sufficient computing power, it is also damn easy for a guy like me to code up an encryption program in a matter of minutes that is not hackable with the amount of computing power available on this planet, not during my lifetime anyway.

 

[HUGGY]

How the internet is destroying us: Its pioneers hoped the web would transform society. Now a devastating new book says it has - in a way that diminishes humanity

The internet, its many evangelists tell us, is the answer to all our problems. It gives power to the people.

It’s a platform for equality that allows everyone an equal share in life’s riches. For the first time in history, anyone can produce, say or buy anything.

But today, as the internet heads towards putting more than half the world’s population online, all this promise has evaporated.

The dream has become a nightmare, in which I fear we billions of network users are victims, not beneficiaries.

In our super-connected 21st-century world, rather than promoting economic fairness, the net is a central reason for the growing gulf between rich and poor and the hollowing out of the middle classes.

Rather than generating more jobs, it is - as I will explain - a cause of unemployment. Rather than creating more competition, it has created immensely powerful new monopolists such as Google and Amazon in a winner-takes-all economy.

Its cultural ramifications are equally chilling. Rather than creating transparency and openness, it secretly gathers information and keeps a watch on each and every one of us.

You need only have read the stories this month about how smart TVs can spy on us in our living rooms to realise that Orwell’s vision in Nineteen Eighty-Four, of a Big Brother society, is becoming a reality.

Because such TVs are connected to the internet, they can watch us and listen to us, then beam that information around the world for companies to use for commercial gain.

And thanks to the explosion in social media, rather than creating more democracy, the internet is empowering mob rule.

An increasingly common kind of online attack involves the threat of rape against women.

For, rather than encouraging tolerance, the internet has unleashed such a distasteful war on women that many no longer feel welcome online.

Amanda Hess, for example, a feminist writer and journalist in the U.S., has received threats ‘to rape you and remove your head’ from men who have disagreed with her writing.

The internet has unleashed such a distasteful war on women that many no longer feel welcome online.

Pornography is so ubiquitous on the internet, and controls denying access so inadequate, that many parents rightly feel their children are at serious risk.

Read more: The internet would transform society and a new book says it has in a way that diminishes humanity Daily Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Read the rest at the link.

So, what do you think?

I think you are a fool to connect your TV to the internet via cable.

I think anyone that signs up for an internet account is a moron. I steal mine.

I get my TV from the over the air signals.

I'm sure the admin of this site has wondered why I am located in Delaware or Virginia and still I maintain I live in a closed motel in North Seattle.

You DO NOT have to hand yourself over to those you believe may want to track you. If you do so without a whimper who do you have to blame?

Stealing is a crime. So you think you are being clever by doing so....I can't imagine you getting the best HD connection on your TV or having a reliable internet connection just because you are afraid that someone may be tracking you. That is paranoia of the hugest kind.

I'm sure the Admin of this site doesn't care where you post from as long as your IP doesn't match someone else that is posting here....you may have an inflated view of yourself.

I probably over stated the "stealing". My internet access is offered freely to anyone that wants it. There was once a conflict but I convinced them that I have been a member for a very long time. I can't control who else uses this wyfy.

My free TV reception is excellent HD. AND it costed me $8 at Best Buy for the antenna. I get around 35 channels.

My feelings about my self worth are really none of your business. I just an hour ago confronted two that made it over the chain link fence. I'm not as young and quick as I used to be but as they say "old and treachery" still gets the job done. It also doesn't hurt to be well armed and have a 125 lb pit bull on a chain when I am extracting hoodlums.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

This is CDZ. Cut out the name calling

 

[Mertex]

My feelings about my self worth are really none of your business.

You make it everyone's business when you post about it on the internet.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

In a nutshell, our government has decided that encryption is a weapon of mass destruction. Couple that with the common understanding that our government is weeding through all of our internet communications, such as email... and it becomes painfully obvious why our government has decided to make strong encryption illegal.

Think encryption is a government backed disinformation type thing. Government computers massively interconnected can chew through the best civilian-available encryption no problem. As can all the people and groups you'd be worrying about so as to use it. A single computer might take centuries, but when you interconnect hundreds or thousands as SETI@Home and other things do, you're talking days if that long.

And if something someone tries to access is encrypted, that just makes it look more interesting.

 

[JFK_USA]

My main beef with the Interwebz is that it's too much information.
Anybody and everybody can put anything out there and it's taken as fact.
We see it here all the time.....

There's a sign in front of a business near my house that says:
Respect you parents.
They passed without Google.

Oh don't we know it. You see conservatives constantly stick to a narrative no matter how false it is and conservative sites keep feeding them it.

Don't believe me? Go to WMD.com. I haven't gone there but my guess is some article refers to:

Benghazi
ACA (Obamacare)
Fast and Furious
IRS (or something about Lois Learner)
Or any related "scandal"

And the same applies to the other side of the case.
Progress Report
Talking Points memo
Think Progress
MJ
Huffy

True to an extent.

Many liberals are naturally research oriented. If we make an argument, we want the research to be sound and plausible.

Some conservatives do not believe in such tactics. Here is an example:

"Obama killed those 4 in Benghazi. He wanted them dead."

Rebuttal: "What? There is no evidence of that. Evidence does show it was a spontaneous attack."

"But that's from the LIBERAL media."

"Well what about Congress finding no wrongdoing by the administration?"

"It's a government conspiracy!!"

"How?"

"Glenn Beck told me!"

See what happens? No matter what facts show, the narrative exists. Why? Because the right has skepticism of any establishment so then you have "Anti-establishment" websites that just confirm their narrative so they don't get challenged.

The left is not that way by nature. Now are some a slave to confirmation bias but not to the extent the right is and the conservative media feeds into that. The narrative will always exists. Birthers, Benghazi, etc. No matter what, the narrative exists.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

My feelings about my self worth are really none of your business.

You make it everyone's business when you post about it on the internet.

Amazing to me that people still think they're anonymous on line or don't understand that once you put them on line, one's words and photos are there forever.

 

[HUGGY]

My feelings about my self worth are really none of your business.

You make it everyone's business when you post about it on the internet.

Amazing to me that people still think they're anonymous on line or don't understand that once you put them on line, one's words and photos are there forever.

I agree to a point. There is a vast ocean of internet backlog if big brother chose to look backwards. Unless someone is actively being tracked there is just not the man hours available to follow up on a tiny fraction of what gets said every day let alone the many thousands of times of bits and bytes floating around or burried in some super computer memory banks.

Just because they can and do knock on people's doors that buy and view child porn that doesn't mean they can or would even want to study the people that are disgruntled about politics or any other topic.

As long as they stick to checking up on people that threaten our top elected officials I don't care about big brother.

I would like to see a link that verifies a single incident of an arrest or official interview for something that was typed by an average citizen that just disagreed with any position the government is taking. With all the nonsense people write you would think there would be at least one example that the jack boots of big brother is out there hard at work.

 

[dilloduck]

How sad-----zillions of internet victims. I bet the democrats have a plan to save them just like they have saved all the other victim classes in the universe. Watch me abuse people with sensitive ears . "HELLO".

Please don't turn me in to the cyber cops.

 

[Mertex]

Well, people shouldn't post idiotic things that get them into trouble. One young girl thought she was being clever by posting on Facebook that she was starting a "****" job the next day....her boss saw the post and responded, "no you're not, you've been fired"....You never know when you're words are going to come back to haunt you.

I certainly think that anyone that makes a threat to an elected official should be checked out.......you never know if they are really whacko or just being idiotic.

This is another one.....
Stupid Girl Loses Her Job Because of Facebook Status Corn on the Job

 

[Derideo_Te]

In a nutshell, our government has decided that encryption is a weapon of mass destruction. Couple that with the common understanding that our government is weeding through all of our internet communications, such as email... and it becomes painfully obvious why our government has decided to make strong encryption illegal.

Which laws make it illegal to use strong encryption?

Obviously you don't know much about encryption because if you did you would know that it is possible to hack anything given enough computing power and time.

Your Libertarian paranoia is no substitute for actual subject matter knowledge.

I linked to the laws that make it illegal. Why did you think I provided those links?

While it is theoretically possible to hack anything given sufficient computing power, it is also damn easy for a guy like me to code up an encryption program in a matter of minutes that is not hackable with the amount of computing power available on this planet, not during my lifetime anyway.

You haven't provided any links pertaining to your allegation that "our government has decided to make strong encryption illegal".

It is easy enough to send a message in plain text that contains encoded information as long as both the sender and receiver know the code so your claim is bogus IMO.

The onus is on you to prove that it is illegal to use strong encryption.

 

[Mertex]

How sad-----zillions of internet victims. I bet the democrats have a plan to save them just like they have saved all the other victim classes in the universe. Watch me abuse people with sensitive ears . "HELLO".

Please don't turn me in to the cyber cops.

How sad....that you put every democrat into a little box of your own making.

 

[Dogmaphobe]

As far as the internet is concerned, if it is destroying us at all, such destruction lies in the way it acts as a vector for bad ideas. People are incredibly stupid creatures for the most part, mindlessly conformist and lacking any skills whatsoever in regards to critical thinking. The internet magnifies this tendency tremendously as it removes any semblance of a vetting process as anybody can say anything and find an audience.

When I was young, in order to learn about the world, I needed to read a book or magazine, and while I was able to access a number of points of view, those points of view were delivered by those with at least SOME expertise in the subject. History books were written by historians. Political treatises were written by those who knew a thing or two about politics. Because of the very way information was published, most of the loony toon stuff was filtered out.

I really wish schools would teach a thing or two about logical fallacies, because the one most exacerbated by the internet is the appeal to popularity. Rather than dealing with information from the standpoint "Is it true", too many people simply conform to expectations by asking "What do all those who describe themselves in certain ways say? If all the members of their tribe say something, they say it, and if they don't, they don't. This has lead to a dumbing down of society, the likes of which we see in this forum on a daily basis as countless people prattle on about "Right wingers", "Liberals" "Zionists", or whatever real or imagined tribe they oppose and just dig in their heels and adopt an opposing view.

Can we say "lowest common denominator" folks?

 

[dilloduck]

How sad-----zillions of internet victims. I bet the democrats have a plan to save them just like they have saved all the other victim classes in the universe. Watch me abuse people with sensitive ears . "HELLO".

Please don't turn me in to the cyber cops.

Oh please stop cyber--insulting me.
How sad....that you put every democrat into a little box of your own making.

 

[RKMBrown]

In a nutshell, our government has decided that encryption is a weapon of mass destruction. Couple that with the common understanding that our government is weeding through all of our internet communications, such as email... and it becomes painfully obvious why our government has decided to make strong encryption illegal.

Which laws make it illegal to use strong encryption?

Obviously you don't know much about encryption because if you did you would know that it is possible to hack anything given enough computing power and time.

Your Libertarian paranoia is no substitute for actual subject matter knowledge.

I linked to the laws that make it illegal. Why did you think I provided those links?

While it is theoretically possible to hack anything given sufficient computing power, it is also damn easy for a guy like me to code up an encryption program in a matter of minutes that is not hackable with the amount of computing power available on this planet, not during my lifetime anyway.

You haven't provided any links pertaining to your allegation that "our government has decided to make strong encryption illegal".

It is easy enough to send a message in plain text that contains encoded information as long as both the sender and receiver know the code so your claim is bogus IMO.

The onus is on you to prove that it is illegal to use strong encryption.

Yes, I did provide said links. If you need help finding the word "strong" in the links I provided I suggest you find a web browser that lets you search for text on a web page.

As I explained it's illegal to use and / or publicly distribute tools that use strong encryption. All said uses are restricted / managed by the federal government to legitimate government uses. It's like the law where you can get a license own a machine gun.. only they don't allow any machine guns to be manufactured except for government uses. You can use low encryption, but not strong encryption. And if you use strong encryption you have to give them the key.

 

[Yarddog]

My main beef with the Interwebz is that it's too much information.
Anybody and everybody can put anything out there and it's taken as fact.
We see it here all the time.....

There's a sign in front of a business near my house that says:
Respect you parents.
They passed without Google.

I would bet that more than 99% of what is on line is opinion, rather than fact.

sure, like global warming

 

[Yarddog]

politicians are feeling their grip on power being challenged, they can no longer spoon feed us through their compliant news media. The news media only gives us what is allowed for us to hear. Anything that criticizes the power structure drives them crazy, Im sure this net nuetrality thing is the result of some government study regarding the election cycle. thats what its all going to be about , consolidating power ( for the good of man) school mom Hillary will take
care of us all

 

[SAYIT]

The internet, its many evangelists tell us, is the answer to all our problems. It gives power to the people.

It’s a platform for equality that allows everyone an equal share in life’s riches. For the first time in history, anyone can produce, say or buy anything.

But today, as the internet heads towards putting more than half the world’s population online, all this promise has evaporated...

The author makes a self aggrandizing argument based on a Straw Man presumption. I have heard none say that the Internet "is the answer to all our problems." Furthermore it's "promise" has not "evaporated" and it does indeed serve the public good (notice I didn't say "solve all our problems"). Rather than toss the baby with the bathwater, perhaps we should strive to make it more useful while diminishing its negatives.

 

[Yarddog]

My main beef with the Interwebz is that it's too much information.
Anybody and everybody can put anything out there and it's taken as fact.
We see it here all the time.....

There's a sign in front of a business near my house that says:
Respect you parents.
They passed without Google.

I would bet that more than 99% of what is on line is opinion, rather than fact.

Its a good point, but we have to be careful how far down the road we would go, that could lead to government silencing opinion.
The world of our grandparents was a different world. News papers were much more independent than they are today. today you can pick up
3 different ones and they all have the same stories, so much more is edited. opinions are also ideas