Points of Hype: Defending the Last Free Place on Earth by Jeff Berwick

Defending the Last Free Place on Earth

by Jeff Berwick
The Dollar Vigilante

Previously by Jeff Berwick: Day of the Dead State

Today was the day the internet went semi-dark.

Sites like Reddit, Wikipedia and thousands of others went dark in protest of the latest attempt at a violent terrorist attack on the internet, the so-called Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Here at The Dollar Vigilante (TDV) we didn't go dark. We figure we'd be one of the first sites taken offline if/when SOPA is enacted so why give them what they want.

And what is it they want? They want to heavily regulate the internet and have the power to shut down any website. It's a cyberwar going on, says Joseph Lieberman in this interview. Well, yes, there is a war, but it was one started by the US Government. Surprise, surprise.

But was there a cyberwar before valiant Joseph Lierberman rode up on the scene? Has anyone been shot? Did your laptop explode in your hands? What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you on the internet? Spam?

How many wars go on in the minds of these people? A harmless plant, marijuana, somehow in their world evolves into a brutal War on Drugs that kills hundreds of thousands per year. An emotion… terror… somehow turns into a War on Terror that has killed over a million people and resulted in a massive loss of freedom and liberty in the US, including the cancellation of the Bill of Rights. And now, the internet… the thing you are on right now… peacefully, without problem, they consider to be an ongoing Cyberwar and try to proclaim the GOVERNMENT needs to protect us from it!

If there EVER were some serious problem on the internet there will be one group of people and one group of people only who will deal with it and be able to deal with it: the internet community of programmers… they number in the millions. They already found a way to hack around Wikipedia going dark for 24 hours.

ANARCHY REIGNS ON THE INTERNET

The internet is the most perfect example of an anarchic environment. In some ways it is like America 300 years ago... a new frontier, initially free. The internet is, for the most part, completely uncontrolled and unregulated since it was invented by Al Gore. It has only been in recent years that the grey hairs of congress have even figured out what it is and have begun to try to "protect us" by making it worse.

Many socialists and Keynesians scratch their head at why the internet/tech business is one of the only businesses to still be thriving in the US. Silicon Valley is still teeming with life. And even though the US Government tries to keep out the world's best and brightest, they still find ways around it. In this one case, they are considering building a tech incubator community off the shores of California.

The reason the internet/tech business still creates wealth and jobs is precisely because the governments of the world still haven't figured out how to suck the blood out of them like they have in nearly every other industry through endless legislation, rules and regulations. Of course it is no wonder that some of the most succesful of the internet world, Peter Thiel, Steve Jobs and Jimmy Wales are commited Libertarians – they understand the enemy they are up against.

SHAMELESS FASCIST PANDERING

And, par for the course, in the US, this legislation only exists thanks to the fascist "lobby" interests. Established companies lobby the government to enact all sorts of legislation to protect their business interests... and that is exactly how SOPA came into being. After envelopes stuffed with cash from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) found their ways into the pockets of people like Leibermann.

Using the old, "I know you are but what am I" tact, the MPAA had the gall to state recently that by going dark to protest the attack on their businesses, sites like Wikipedia were "abusing their power".

Note to the MPAA: Wikipedia and others are USING their power. The MPAA and the US Government are ABUSING their power by attempting to force people at gunpoint (laws/jails) to adhere to what you want them to do.

Big difference, MPAA.

Not to mention it was people like the MPAA who did everything they could to outlaw VHS tapes... and later DVD players because they had the nearsightedness to not realize these would become billion dollar moneymakers for them. And the same is happening now.

Apple iTunes, including iBook store and AppStore, is expected to grow at a rate of about 39 percent over the next 3 years and may contribute about $13 billion in revenues in fiscal 2013, according to an analyst at Global Equities Research.

This is a huge new market for the likes of the MPAA... yet they are doing everything they can to kill it using violence and coercion. In a way it is a small microcosm of democracy... the people who participate in democracy inevitably enact rules and laws that seal their own fate.

SELF POLICING

But, doesn't the government need to protect creators of intellectual property? Here at TDV we are a provider of IP (our newsletter is 100% IP) and we don’t look to the government to ‘protect us’. We believe in the power of the free market to regulate itself through things like http://creativecommons.org/.

Many people ask us, what would happen if someone started a website and copied all our material and claimed it as their own? The answer is simple. Everyone would call them thieves and they would be known as charlatans and would lose respect amongst their peers.

It's that simple.

CENSORING AND KILLING THE INTERNET

The real reason the government wants to censor the internet and talk incessantly about the need for an internet kill switch is for the same reason Egypt had an internet kill switch… and China has the "great firewall"… because they know 2012 will be the year of massive protests, riots and turmoil in response to the US being sold out from underneath the people and they know that the people will organize themselves via the internet.

HOLD ON TO THIS FREEDOM

Like the founding of America, we've yet again been given another chance to flourish. These chances only seem to come along very rarely. Before the founding of America, the last time there was an attempt at escape from the control of the state was nearly two thousand years ago with Jesus the anarchist.

And, for thousands of years, many people have been awaiting a return of "the savior". The savior could be the internet. Jesus, in many ways, was the top anarchist of his time, fighting against the depredations of the state for freedom.

Fight against any and all government control of this space. This space doesn't even exist physically. It exists virtually, but it is just as important as any locale in terms of your ability to access information and to make free your mind.

You've been able to access information you never thought even existed thanks to the internet. I know I have. And the governments of the world don't like this. Fight to retain this ability. If we lose this, all is lost.

Sadly, the internet is the last free place on Earth. We have to go virtual to escape government oppression at this point. And if we lose this, there is no hope for humanity. If we retain it, the future will be full of prosperity and peace unlike any we've ever known. If we lose it? We don't even want to think about it.

Reprinted with permission from The Dollar Vigilante.

January 21, 2012

Jeff Berwick [send him mail] is an anarcho-capitalist freedom fighter and Chief Editor of the libertarian, Austrian economics grounded newsletter, The Dollar Vigilante. The Dollar Vigilante focuses on strategies, investments and expatriation opportunities to survive & prosper during and after the US dollar collapse.

Copyright © 2012 The Dollar Vigilante

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