The European Union is feeling a bit jealous of Joe Lieberman’s ability to bring tyranny down upon a populace and have decided if they can’t beat him they’ll just join him:
Internet users may soon be asked to ‘flag’ for police review any web content they believe might incite terrorism, under new counterterrorism proposals put forward in Europe.
The ‘flagging’ mechanism is one of a number of initiatives proposed by a group of European Government officials participating in the ‘Clean IT Project’.
When (these things are no longer a matter of if) this passes I’m sure my site will get flagged as promoting gun rights, liberty, and unregulated commerce is likely an act of inciting terrorism in the European Union. In fact I would feel downright horrible if my site didn’t get flagged because I try really hard to be against everything the European Union is for (namely tyranny).
Asking people to flag ‘terrorist’ websites is nothing more than an evolution of asking neighbors to spy on their fellow neighbors. Only the introduction of anonymity is really different and that anonymity may make things far different as neighbors no longer have to worry about being caught spying on their fellow neighbor before turning them into the Stasi. On the other hand the denizens of the Internet are a notoriously fickly and anarchistic group and will likely use any flag feature to troll the living shit out of those who read through the reports. How many times do you think a reviewer is going to be stuck reviewing a Rick Astley video or horrible porn?
Spot on when you say they are basically asking building a spy network amongst their people. I wonder what will happen to the people doing the flagging because after all… they are visiting these terrorist sites which according to our govt can land you in jail indefinitely without charges or a trial.
All hail the overlords!
Historically speaking those who turned their neighbors in were rewarded and their “good deed” was made well known to encourage such behavior. I think the government would be willing to grant amnesty to those reading terrorist website so long as they were flagging those sites for government review.
Of course that amnesty may only be for so long. Governments always want to ensure no crisis goes to waste and it would be a huge propaganda event if they later arrested persons who flagged websites and claimed that extended exposure to terrorist websites radicalized the previously good citizens. Then they could move to further tighten control over the Internet in the name of protecting the people/children from radicalizing ideas!
Oh man the government is going to have a field day figuring out what to do to me. On one hand I can be a huge source of ideas for them but on the other hand I ideologically oppose them. Let me continue writing and giving them ideas of black bag me to silence my criticisms, that is the question.