Techdirt has a story that is quite disturbing on many levels:
Forget banning TikTok, the Trump State Department just suggested it wants to basically ban China from the internet. Rather than promoting an open internet and the concept of openness, it appears that under this administration we're slamming the gates shut and setting up the Great American Firewall for the internet. Under the guise of what it calls the Clean Network to Safeguard America, last night Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a program that is full of vague statements, that could, in practice, fragment the internet.
This is incredibly disappointing on multiple levels. While other countries -- especially China, but also Iran and Russia -- have created their own fragmented internet, the US used to stand for an open internet across the globe. Indeed, for whatever complaints we had about the State Department during the Obama administration (and we had many complaints), its commitment to an open internet was very strong and meaningful. That's clearly now gone. The "Clean Network to Safeguard America" consists of five programs that can be summed up as "fuck you China."
So much for Internet openness.
(Score: 3, Touché) by dry on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:48PM (6 children)
As a Canadian, I didn't get to vote for your Administration but I'm pretty sure to get dragged into this.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:08PM (5 children)
Doesn't matter. Your country won't adopt this unless your politicians decide to, and you vote for your own politicians.
(Score: 2) by dry on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:35PM (4 children)
I don't think we get much say in Microsoft buying the 5 eyes part of TikTok as an example. And a lot of the internet is routed through America so if I want to communicate with someone in China or Russia, there's a very good chance the routing goes through the States.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday August 10 2020, @04:00AM (3 children)
No one's forcing you to use TikTok. Heck, I never even heard of TikTok until recently when it became a political issue. There are other chat apps out there. Feel free to use WeChat it you want to talk to someone in China.
Not all the internet backbones are run through the States; in fact, last I heard a bunch of backbones were installed specifically to avoid this. The very nature of the internet is that it routes around damage. A Great Trump Firewall can't block Canadians from having their packets routed to China or Russia. Only a Great Trudeau Firewall can do that, and that one is entirely on you.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by dry on Monday August 10 2020, @04:30AM (2 children)
I don't use TikTok and also didn't really know anything about it previous to this crap coming up. I do understand it is popular with some segments of the population and believing in freedom of association, I don't like seeing heavy government interference in basic rights.
I'm not up on my backbones but if I do a traceroute to most places, it seems to get routed through America. Shit I just did one to the CBC and it routes through ae-6.r05.sttlwa01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net which looks like a US host. While I don't expect Trudeau to be interested in a great firewall, eventually the Conservatives will get in, and like all conservatives, they've switched to being anti-China in a big way. They also have a record of not giving a shit about many rights.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday August 10 2020, @02:30PM (1 child)
>I don't like seeing heavy government interference in basic rights.
The government has every right to interfere in basic rights. If the people don't like it, they can vote for different leaders. The American people voted for this government.
>While I don't expect Trudeau to be interested in a great firewall, eventually the Conservatives will get in, and like all conservatives, they've switched to being anti-China in a big way. They also have a record of not giving a shit about many rights.
Well if the Conservatives get in, it'll be because the Canadian people voted for them, so the Canadian people will be getting what they want and what they voted for.
(Score: 2) by dry on Monday August 10 2020, @03:19PM
Actually it'll be due to not enough people voting for the Liberals. With 4 or 5 parties in Parliament, mostly on the left, all the Conservatives need is to maintain is their 1/3rd of the vote and wait.