If we didn't have the Internet, how much further down the Fascism hole would we be?

[JohnnyBoots]

We would lose a lot of the ability to investigate and research on our own, to fact check, send quick emails and communications around the globe. It allows us to discuss ideas and organize groups. I was just thinking that this Administration stole the playbook on propaganda suppresion of ideas from Goebel's et al. That system was designed before the internet existed. Is it the only thing now holding us back now from full fledged Fascism? Would Bush's poll numbers be big? Would we all believe the lies told to us by the Administration and the Media. Would today's 30%ers be the norm? Perception is reality. If you can manufacture the truth, you can manufacture consent for anything. Right now we are discussing whether or not torture is legal. Would we even know about it if the internet was not around? Scary to think about.

[truebrit71]

1. A long, LONG way down....

..if all we had to go by was the MSM then we'd be completely screwed..

[sutz12]

6. No kidding....best thing about it, sad to say...

is access to foreign media to double check the doublespeak.


:shrug:

[liberal N proud]

2. It would be over

This would be a Chinese style government by now.

[ixion]

10. yep, spot on, that

it'd be done, rather than very nearly done.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. well, I for one would still be an uninformed sheep

probably huddling in the corner with my nose in a book while the world falls apart around me.

[JohnnyBoots]

4. Yeah me too. You can really learn a lot at DU.

[bdamomma]

5. we would be a big trouble but we have a media now

who does not give the facts and the truth to its citizens. Thank goodness, we have the Internet at our disposal right now, but should we put measures in place for ourselves if they ever decide to limit usage or viewing of Internet for ourselves.

[napi21]

7. There are MANY times I honestly wonder what the heck we did

before we had the net! I use it all the time for everything, and when my connection goes down I really get irate! (Just ask the Charter CS reps!)

If I hear some politician say something that just doesn't sound quite right, I check with google!

If I need a phone # the first place I go is SuperPages. (I haven't opened a phone book in YEARS!)

If I need directions, I go to map quest.

And if I have a question I can't find the answer to, I come to DU! You folks have NEVER let me down either!!!!

The other thing I would be totally LOST without is streaming radio. I live in North Ga. and the only thing worth listening to on the radio here is Clark Howard, the consumer advocate. If it wasn't for Streaming radio, I wouldn't know Mike Malloy, Stacy Taylor, Ed Schultz, Randy Rhodes, Rachel Maddow, etc.

YES, we'd be in much deeper sh*t without the net!!!!

[flashl]

8. Headsup: Save the Internet Movement

The Threat is Real How does this threat to Internet freedom affect you?

Small businesses—The little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable to compete.

Innovators with the next big idea—Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for the top spots on the Web.

Bloggers—Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips—silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets.

Google users—Another search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee another search engine opens faster than Google on your computer.

Ipod listeners—A company like Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service it owns.

Online shoppers—Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower prices—distorting your choices as a consumer.

Telecommuters—When Internet companies like AT&T favor their own services, you won't be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your office.

Parents and retirees—Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc.

Political groups—Political organizing could be slowed by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay "protection money" for their Web sites and online features to work correctly.

Nonprofits—A charity's website could open at snail-like speeds, and online contributions could grind to a halt if nonprofits don't pay Internet providers for access to "the fast lane."
What They've Got Planned

The threat to an open internet isn't just speculation -- we've seen what happens when the Internet's gatekeepers get too much control. These companies, even, have said as much about their plans to discriminate online. According to the Washington Post:

William L. Smith, chief technology officer for Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp., told reporters and analysts that an Internet service provider such as his firm should be able, for example, to charge Yahoo Inc. for the opportunity to have its search site load faster than that of Google Inc.

He's not alone. Ed Whitacre of AT&T told BusinessWeek in late 2005:

Now what they would like to do is use my pipes free, but I ain't going to let them do that because we have spent this capital and we have to have a return on it. So there's going to have to be some mechanism for these people who use these pipes to pay for the portion they're using. Why should they be allowed to use my pipes?

---

We should not assume that it can not be taken away.

[JohnnyBoots]

9. Is there any pending legislation to protect free usage? What are people doing to fend off

corporate involvement? You know more about it than I do. Any info the subject would be appreciated.

[flashl]

18. Information in excerpt from an article

The End of the Internet?

Net Neutrality

To ward off the prospect of virtual toll booths on the information highway, some new media companies and public-interest groups are calling for new federal policies requiring "network neutrality" on the Internet. Common Cause, Amazon, Google, Free Press, Media Access Project and Consumers Union, among others, have proposed that broadband providers would be prohibited from discriminating against all forms of digital content. For example, phone or cable companies would not be allowed to slow down competing or undesirable content.

---

Just my personal opinion, CLEC, competitive local exchange carrier, a telephone company that competes with an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) such as a Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC), GTE, ALLNET, etc. offers better assurances.

[The2ndWheel]

11. Scarier is thinking the internet will save us

Yeah, we can send quick e-mails and communicate the world over. At the same time, that helps outsourcing.

We know about torture. At the same time, we're not stopping it.

We can organize protests against the war. At the same time, it's still going on, and really no signs that this war, or the next one, or the one after that, will stop.

The internet exists in the civilian world for commerce. It doesn't exist to fundamentally change anything.

[Uncle Joe]

14. The Internet alone will not save us,

anymore than fire alone saved early human kind, but it is an invaluable tool. We've entered the information age and information is power, money and influence, that's one reason running advertisements for election on television are so expensive.

[Bitwit1234]

12. Why do you think companies like Comcast and the rest

are trying to censure our emails and websites. And the government is trying to take it over. THEY WANT TO SHUT US UP.

[Uncle Joe]

13. I believe that's why Bush just attacked it

with his speech at the Heritage Foundation. He attacked Moveon bloggers and the Code Pink movement. Of course Moveon isn't bloggers, but he's subliminally tying the word bloggers to liberal political movements just as they used to tie liberal to the word media. I believe his primary target wasn't Moveon or code pink so much as the Internet in general. The Internet seems to be the last bastion of democracy and this is quite upsetting to them.

[shadowknows69]

15. I wonder if it also serves as a method of control

Whereas in another era we might already be at the torshes and pitchforks stage this helps some of us (myself guilty as charged) sleep better at night knowing we're doing "all we can" by speaking out. To like minded people and the deaf ears of others.

[Uncle Joe]

16. I believe the optimum level of control is the one way communication

we had with newspapers, radio and television. Our dissatisfaction with the Iraq War began much earlier than Vietnam, in large part because the truth was with held for a longer period of time. When there are protests the corporate media don't cover them. I didn't even know Bush's limo was egged as he was going to take his inaugural until Michael Moore's movie Fahrenheit 9/11 came out.

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. Ask the people in Cuba where the government limits access:

Cuba law tightens internet access

The Cuban Government is tightening its control over internet access.
A new law coming into force on Saturday makes it impossible for many Cubans to dial up the internet from their home telephone lines.

The move has been criticised by the human rights group Amnesty International.

Cuba says that, given its limited resources, it needs to ensure that the internet is primarily used for the social good.

more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3425425.stm

[leftofthedial]

19. heil bushler

[applegrove]

20. And the GOP did try and dominate the internet. If you were on the mixed

boards...and still attend..you would see all manner of talking points like: "Hitler was left wing" and "Germany's economy is bad because it is a mixed market Liberal one" (Germany's economy is bad because of huge immigration from the former Soviet Republics, the Middle East and the integration of East Germany which have combined with lack of control over the interest rate (they have the euro) to make for some tough times).