This Concerns Me...
 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050930/ap_on_hi_te/internet_control

I'm more concerned that the French-dominated EU would purposefully derail something in the U.S. with a policy change.

Sorry, we invented it, we get to keep it.

Interesting comment. The frogs have for years tried to eliminate anything with any English content in it. They have made shop and store owners change names, product names and even products if they had a "foreign" sound or feel to it.

Not surprising if they would sometime try to restrict any English content in the internet access coming into the country...

JoeA

We invented arpanet.

CERN came up with mosaic, genesis of modern browsers.

let's not get carried away.

The bigger story is what China is restricting... sites, words, expressions... much like parts of the US Congress would like to do.

Many countries are concerned with various aspects of the Internet. But like a lot of modern technology, nobody can 'control' it. If the US shut down all its servers, and all the university servers, and all the servers owned by US-based corporations, the Internet would still exist.

Not just China. Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea and others around the world do this on a regular basis. East Germany used to do the same thing. They do or did not want their population to know what is going on around them. Its not really working but is a start. People have ways around things like this with hidden satellite and radio systems.

For many years Saudi had police helo's that would fly over the cities and if they saw a tv satellite system they would radio the location to a ground unit who would go there and tear it down and arrest the owners. Am sure that the Iranians and Koreans have the same situation. Well, the Saudis started using hidden satellite antennas, putting them inside a box or false cover.

These days its legal in Saudi and understand Iran is allowing some limited access. North Korea and China are still restrictive in this area. After the Berlin Wall fell we found out how much the people on the borders of East Germany were flaunting the law when we talked with them and found that they had modified their radios and tv's to receive the Western broadcasts. To be caught meant years in prison but they still did it.

A govt can try to hold its people back but in the end its very difficult to enforce. Someday Iran and N. Korea will open up. Just hope that I am still alive to see it...

Joe A

PS Tech, please tell us what sites that the US Congress is trying to restrict from us?

Right. Thats why there is Subway, McDonalds, Disney and laughably Starbucks in France.

Perhaps you are confusing the fact that the French have quite agressively sought to protect names associated with regions, like Champagne and Bordeux?

God forbid they should try to protect their IP, or more ridculously, the language and culture.

Is Stuart French? That might explain his perspective on US politics.

Frankly, the Internet is the nation's best hope. Politics is marketing. Information is power. And as Tech says, the Internet is not something anybody controls. so, there's hope that Joe Lunchpail might some day get accurate information about Dubya and politicians of his ilk.

Stuart, I am not confusing anything. How long have you lived in Europe? I spent over 10 years there and a fair amount of it in France. They were actively pulling down signs in English and replacing them with re-phrased versions in French on many business. Micky D's is still the same but smaller companies had to change their name.

Joe A

First, you should read what I posted, not make up stuff to attibute to me.

Members of congress have tried to restrict cryptographic solutions on the 'net, tried to impose taxes on goods sold intrastate on the 'net, tried to restrict access to content, abolish 'anonymous surfing,' etc., etc.

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1998_cr/h980225-crypto.htm

http://www.gigalaw.com/articles/2001-all/isenberg-2001-03b-all.html

Funny, this is in direct contradiction to what I saw during the 2 weeks I spent in France this summer (in Paris and smaller towns). There was English everywhere - more French but plenty of English. If you want to see language nazis, look at Quebec. Non-French signs are illegal, and shopowners are regularly fined if non-French is predominant on any outdoor sign. Other languages are ok, but there are size limits. They actually have a team of people that go around with rulers and measuring tapes - no *****. It's especially dumb in areas like Chinatown in Montreal.

Excuse me... but you typed it up and posted it, so who else would most people attibute it to?

Can I please have some of whatever you are smoking? The weekend is coming and it might be nice...

JoeA

On a serious note, I respect a country who is trying to protect it's heritage. That is why I am upset at the US for not PROTECTING OURS!!


On a humourous note: We should send Al Gore to France to straighten this out. After all, he did invent the internet. This would allow the French to voice the concerns directly and allow us to remove a parasite...

Sorry, back to school for you. What 'parts of Congress would like to do' is different from 'what Congress is trying to do.'

And were you able to click on the links, or should I paste in the things that are being suggested for restriction?

Joe, I'm gonna save that quote.:)

Glad to see that you have figured out cut and paste. My wording did not change the meaning of your post. I did not make up anything, you were the one who posted it without any info to back it up in your first post.

JoeA

PS I taught school on the university level for many years. Nice try though...

When we had the grid girls thread this was a much happier friendlier place.

It is still really hard to get an accurate read on American policy and philosophy, if you are a foreigner, given the American media with the widest reach is dominated by leftists who agree with the leadership of the UN and philosophically socialist regimes worldwide...These American leftist publications--like CNN, CBS, NBC, NYTimes, NPR, AP--not only formulate American perception but have a near monopolistic control over foreign impressions of America...The American media giants, given their dispositions that oft favor worldwide leftist thought, manufacture their reports to reflect how they would like the world to see us.

American media is guilty of selective reporting, at least on a percentage basis...For example since Katrina the NYSlimes has had 56 negative reports on Bush's handling of Katrina...What is the world's media going to glom onto?...Of course they will have the tendency, coerced or voluntary, to cover what suits either their or their governments interest...Quite frequently anti-American.

Well put Mul!

While I can't speak for the entire world, I believe it's the general perception of non-Americans that (with the exception of the NY Times) the media outlets you listed are actually more to the right of centre, rather than leftist, particularly CNN. At least that's the general perspective among people I know, people that cover the whole left to right spectrum.