Technical Museum in Stockholm 1952 - Philips demonstrating television.

Me and L where talking the other day if we ever are going to see a change in our lives as fundamental as internet. Our generation grew up without it while this generation never knew how life was before cellphones and internet. And the next generation, what kind of internet will they get to know?

Changes are pretty big that the freedom and openness that we associate with internet today will be an unknown to them. I heard the other day on the radio a debater making the argument “of COURSE internet suppliers should be responsible for what is going on in their networks”. To that argument I must ask why. Internet connectivity is as commonplace today as any other part of the Swedish infrastructure. You don’t close bars if people get drunk there and then drive home. Nobody would even think about threatening my telephone company if I were to pick up the phone and call in a bomb threat at the Royal Palace. Yet somehow when it comes to internet connectivity, all the basic rules we take for granted don’t apply.

We are already being spied upon on a systematic and state-sponsored degree, Stasi of East Germany could only dream of having the control over its citizens that the Swedish state is enjoying at the moment. The argument that the intelligence gathered in Sweden cannot be used to track individuals is hardly comforting, when it is an established fact that intelligence data always have always been for sale or trade to intelligence agencies of other countries.

And now, around the corner looms ACTA. The article linked to below highlights a connection I was not aware of before: That ACTA operates the same way as the Great Chinese firewall. This in connection with the recent Google/China scandal really makes you wonder. What the hell is going on?

Read this –> The Similarity Between ACTA And Chinese Internet Censorship

You are out driving in your car. You stop at a store and while you are there you steal some candy. I’ts illegal and not very nice, but you can’t help yourself, the candy looks so delicious. When you are about to leave the store owner appears and he is very mad.  ”For taking my candy without paying, you will lose your car.”  There is nothing you can do, you walk home.

This is more or less the essence of the telecom package, currently under deliberation in the European Parliament. The proposed price for you to pay for piracy is .. your internet connection can get taken away. Without the involvement of any court. (in the original proposal). They want to ban you from the internet for daring to take their precious movies and music. Nevermind that in 2009, the internet is a more given infrastructural item than even the telephone. You won’t be able to pay your bills or use it to declare your taxes. It is clear that the laws are based on outdated ideas. It is also clear that the people of Sweden have representation in Brussels that are pushing hard for an agenda that is utterly removed from the interests of the common people.

Our rights as citizens are getting compromised for the benefit of companies like HBO and Time Warner. It’s the end of the world.

http://www.dn.se/fordjupning/europa2009/telekompaketet-strid-om-rattssakerhet-in-i-det-sista-1.858591

Burns: And to think, Smithers, you laughed when I bought Ticketmaster. [imitating Smithers] Nobody’s going to pay a hundred-percent “service charge.”
Smithers: It’s a policy that ensures a healthy mix of the rich and the ignorant, sir.

Here is what has been bugging me in the debate: The state is jumping on the bandwagon a bit too fast when it comes to limiting your right on the net. With the telecom package around the corner you start asking yourself whose best interest the state has at heart. Do you know a single person who thinks this kind of government control is a good idea?

Then unfortunately on the other side of the debate, at least in Sweden, you find the Pirate-party. A whole political party whose only issue is the right of filesharing and the freedom of information or something like that. They want to get my vote, when filesharing is like the least of the worlds problems at the moment. Its very depressing, guys there is a name for one-issue organizations: lobby group. Allright?

So it was a complete breath of fresh air to read this article on fokus.se. It brings the discussion back to where it should have stayed in the first place: How is it possible that an album that costs a given amount of money in the store, almost costs the same amount as a digital download?

Read this article

Its in swedish, but I encourage you to use the translation engine of your choice if you need to. It’s worth it. Judging by how the way things are going now, we are heading head-first into a very dark place indeed.