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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday September 08 2020, @11:48PM   Printer-friendly

The Mozilla Corporation is known for among other things the Firefox web browser and the Thunderbird e-mail client, and its current CEO has written an open letter to the European Commission on the upcoming Digital Services Act (DSA) (warning for PDF). In it she vaguely addresses transparency, accountability, online advertising, and digital markets for a European internet, without addressing The Internet itself. The DSA appears to include proposals to split off a European internet from The Internet at large and model it after the great firewall of China in regards to control and isolation.

In the document, New Developments in Digital Services: Short-(2021), medium-(2025) and long-term (2030) perspectives and the implications for theDigital Services Act, the great firewall of China gets praised repeatedly as something to emulate should the EU split of an internet from The Internet:

To make sure these predictions become reality and to prevent the misuse of digital tools, we advise the European Parliament to take a le ading stance in the global digitalisation. Three main recommendations are given in the study: A European cloud / European internet could secure a reliable, trustworthy digital ecosystem in Europe. Funding programmes for eGovernment would use the innovative capabilities of start-ups throughout Europe to create the most digital and advanced government in the world. And all this should be communicated in a visionary and exciting way, making sure the right regulations are in place, but also encouraging boldness and showing a willingness to change (see Figure 2).

[...] Action Plan 1: European Cloud / European Internet

A European firewall/cloud/ internet would foster a digital ecosystem in Europe based on data and innovation. It would drive competition and set standards, similar to what has happened in China in the past 20 years. The foundations of such a European cloud are democratic values, transparency, competition and data protection.

[...] Technologically, it would require a top-level infrastructure, high-speed 5G or a 6G data network and a firewall. Setting up such a network would promote many European companies and therefore boost business and drive innovation.

Like the Chinese firewall, this European internet would block off services that condone or support unlawful conduct from third party countries.

[...] As e-commerce and remote working solutions became widely used and even smartphone tracking to prevent infections met very little scepticism. Now in the aftermath of this pandemic it's the perfect time to act and to push for ambitious goal in digitalising Europe.

[...] Update 2 of the Visionary Communication Programme: i.e. crypto, quantum computing. Here it is important to include visionaries, think tanks and influences to communicate the update to the public.

Phase 2 of the eGovernment Venture Programme: Testing and evaluating first technologies and ideas developed in the programme.

Initialising the European internet: setting up think tanks to creating the cornerstones and possible pitfalls of such a project.

Long term 2025 – 2030

Update 3 of the Visionary Communication Programme: i.e. 6G, European internet, DNA products. Further communication within the Europe of the new digital goals.

The EFF has also responded to the EU Commission on the Digital Services Act, with a request in the opposite direction, that of putting the citizens back in control and avoiding a situation where there are gatekeepers consisting of only a handful of large corporations.


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  • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday September 09 2020, @06:31PM (1 child)

    by tangomargarine (667) on Wednesday September 09 2020, @06:31PM (#1048504)

    I have no problem with limiting the freedom of criminals to spam people or try to trick them into paying money for fake tax debts. Same as I have no problem limiting the freedom of food makers to sell unsafe contaminated food, or car manufacturers to sell defective cars

    The difference being, the former category requires you as the victim to consent to be victimized. The consumer unknowingly buying unsafe food or cars endangers them through no fault of their own.

    or speed limits, or stop signs and traffic lights

    also protect people who haven't consented to participate in Mad Max

    or limiting counterfeiting

    also impacts people who aren't party to it

    or limiting people from making threats to harm others.

    A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, and thus a death threat can be a form of coercion. For example, a death threat could be used to dissuade a public figure from pursuing a criminal investigation or an advocacy campaign.

    In most jurisdictions, death threats are a serious type of criminal offence. Death threats are often covered by coercion statutes. For instance, the coercion statute in Alaska says:

    A person commits the crime of coercion if the person compels another to engage in conduct from which there is a legal right to abstain or abstain from conduct in which there is a legal right to engage, by means of instilling in the person who is compelled a fear that, if the demand is not complied with, the person who makes the demand or another may inflict physical injury on anyone....[1]

    Which of these limitations on freedom are you against?

    None of them, because they're all stupid examples.

    I didn't say a Great Firewall *couldn't* be beneficial, but it's just not worth the risk. It's a system ripe for abuse, and if we've learned nothing else over all these thousands of years, people should know that those in positions of petty power like to exercise it. Go talk to your friend Ajit Pai about how awesome it is to fuck over people's Internet if you like the idea so much.

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  • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Wednesday September 09 2020, @10:43PM

    by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Wednesday September 09 2020, @10:43PM (#1048622) Journal
    Victims of spam designed to defraud them are not "willing victims." If they were aware that the spam was an attempt to defraud them, they would not consent. Same as the telephone scams claiming to be the tax department and demanding bitcoin - people are not willing dupes, just incredibly stupid and unaware of the world around them.
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