The "Caesar Effect" of Forum Moderators

We all know them -- those moderators or administrators on political forums or groups that claim to "support liberty" and "welcome all opinions," but then boot you the instant you post something they disagree with.

To their credit, some of them may have started off legitimately wanting to "welcome all opinions" in their group or forums, but they slowly change their minds as they grow weary of those they disagree with as they begin to succumb to what I call the "Caesar Effect."

... These two revolutions, both the one in electronic communications and the emerging ideological revolution in the name of individual rights, have found happy union together. Such connections have spurred much beneficial action, as with the Arab Spring, while also leading to baseless violence in theft, as in the United Kingdom. But it has also altered the ways in which people speak to and view one another. The traditional power structures implicit within the old forms of ideological activism (e.g. seniority, age, political pull) can be immediately usurped by a newcomer who, though he has no prior connection,  displays that he is no less capable of holding his own than those who once considered themselves the de facto leaders (or rulers) of said groups.

You Knew It Was Coming: Pentagon Declares War on the Internet

Jason Ditz at Antiwar.com reports on a Petagon announcement "that declares the Internet a domain of war."  This is in addition to their longtime "operational domains" of "land, sea, air, and space."  Evidently, there is no place on earth outside the DoD's jurisdiction.  Now they're going virtual and invading the most peaceful hub of cooperation and commerce in human history.

Deputy Secretary of Deference William Lynn tried to allay fears by stating that making the Internet the newest warzone "no more militarizes cyberspace than having a navy militarizes the ocean.”  Uh, yeah, that's exactly the problem.  In fact, it's worse.  I don't ever use the ocean, but I'm on the internet all the time.  Welcome to Virtual Vietnam, baby!

Priceless quote: "The reaction from Capitol Hill in the immediate wake of the plan’s unveiling was mostly muted."  Surprise, surprise.

So You Think the Internet Is Still Free?

This interesting series of infographics takes aim at the censoring of the internet around the world.  Check out these well-designed infographics about the who, what, how, and why of internet censorship here.

Joe Lieberman's Bloodied Hands Grope for our Broadbands

Public servant Joe Lieberman is attempting to saddle America with another “national security” measure. For Joe, that usually means slaughtering Muslim toddlers. But this time, he points his 12-gauge straight to the heart American constitutional liberties: The First Amendment.

Writes Justin Raimondo,

Who else but Joe Lieberman would introduce a bill to give the President the power to shut down the Internet with the flick of a switch? … If the “Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act” passes – and isn’t that a name that embraces practically every collectivist bromide extant? – the Department of Homeland  Security would establish a “cyber-terrorism” sub-bureaucracy, the Office of Cyberspace Policy (OCP), and the National Center for Cybersecurity and Communication (NCCC), with the former lording it over the Internet – a Cyber-Czar – and the latter unleashed to spy on and otherwise guard the “cybersecurity” Senators Lieberman and his two co-sponsors aver is imminently threatened.

It doesn’t matter whether Congress is a chamber of devils or angels. And it doesn’t matter whether the national security threats they foresee are imaginary or real. It is un-American and immoral to give an unconstitutional sub-agency of the unconstitutional Department of Homeland Security the unconstitutional authority to shut down the Internet at the President's say-so. Call your representative and challenge him or her to stand with the First Amendment and the rule of law by opposing the rotten "Protecting Cyberspace as a National Security Asset Act."