"The control of information is something the elite
always does, particularly in a despotic form of government. Information,
knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control
people." -- Tom Clancy
With the internet coming into its own, the elites lost control over the flow of information worldwide. Control what is accepted as being factual and you have an inside track to controlling people's beliefs. For most of the last century the model worked quite well for those on top of the food chain as media houses consolidated into a relatively few, major conglomerates. The covert agencies understood the game and became quite adept at infiltrating and making full use of this tool using initiatives such as Operation Mockingbird. They became so successful that former director Richard Colby once stated: "The CIA owns everyone of any significance in the major media". But starting first slowly the decade before Y2K - speeding up greatly since - the blogs and social media have altered the game radically!
No longer able to control what is dished out to the public under the guise of a 'free press', TPTB have lost control of the key means by which public opinion is influenced. While initially many of the new information sources were brushed aside as lacking in credibility, with the public encouraged to trust only official news sources, it soon became clear to the many that valid and credible information was being unearthed daily - information that usually failed to make it onto the pages of the major dailies or the 6 o'clock news. With the cat now well out of the bag - so to speak - panic has begun to set in among all who have long enjoyed an unchallenged hold on power, that the ship of control has sprung a multitude of leaks and is now in imminent danger of sinking unless they can quickly plug them all!
While high-sounding motives such as protecting intellectual property or clamping down on piracy are advanced as the rationale for draconian laws claimed to be for our protection, the real reasons have more to do with the plan by those atop the food chain to do whatever it takes to regain control. Like recent laws which were foisted on a dumbed down and fearful population for their 'protection', these are also likely to pass with little fanfare or questioning by the mainstream press or from 'Joe Public'!
Meanwhile, those more alert to the sound of the doors to freedom clanging shut one after the other, after which no amount of either polite knocking or loud banging will cause the keys to be turned and the doors reopened, would do well to spend a little time educating ourselves as to what comes next. The video gives insights into how we got to where we are and what lies in the future, while the key article shows why all these bills seeking to control the free internet make up a 'recipe for disaster'!
ACTA: “Would Usurp Congressional Authority”, “Threatens Numerous Public Interests”, a “Backroom Special Interest Deal”, a “Masquerade”
SOPA, PIPA, ACTA … What’s Next?
We just beat back SOPA and PIPA with the web blackout.
Now everyone is talking about ACTA. But – because ACTA is complicated, and is just starting to receive coverage – most are not sure exactly what ACTA really is, or why we should be concerned about it.
We’ll give you an executive summary of what you need to know.
Instead of giving you the specifics about what’s actually in the bill (we provide links at the end for those who want to know), we’ll explain why the procedure used is a recipe for disaster.
Why are we stressing procedure over substance?
Because, as awful as ACTA is, there are other horrible bills such as the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement waiting in the wings … which may be even worse than ACTA.
Unless we understand the rotten, anti-democratic process which is causing these bad bills to be introduced, we will be caught off-guard by the introduction of one draconian bill after another … and we will lose the fight for Internet freedom.
(The problem is that powerful men are making laws in secret to protect their interests.)
Hollywood Tries to Ram U.S. IP Policies Down the Throat of Europe
On the most superficial level, ACTA is an attempt to ram American intellectual property policies down Europe’s throat.
As the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Eva Galperin told me:
The United States will continue to use multi-national treaties negotiated in secret without the consultation of civil society or other key stakeholders as a way of ramming US IP policy down the throats of other countries.But this is a superficial analysis. Specifically, it is also an attempt to ram Hollywood’s interests down the throats of the American people … and Congress.
A Handful of Powerful Men Are Trying to Railroad Democracy and the Constitution to Protect Their Interests
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