Mozilla tells DHS: we won't help you censor the Internet

[bgruber]

This is exactly why i stopped reading boingboing; there's a tendency to ascribe meaning to actions that just isn't there. Mozilla said no such thing. What they said was more like "we won't just do whatever a government agency tells us to unless legally compelled to do so." I'm pleased Mozilla did this, but their stance is not the one it's being portrayed as here.

[slouch]

I was fairly sure this link introduced no new information on the subject. Thanks for confirming the suspicion.

[exit]

i'd like to see a movement which clearly places the internet above the sovereignty of any nation

[fleitz]

it's called humanity. The sovereignty of your nation is really only important to your sovereign. No one else really cares, except insofar as much as your sovereign can steal money from you and give it to them.

Stop confusing your 'country' with your 'nation state' the two are not synonymous. Your country is important because it contains people with whom you share culture, your nation state is a bunch of pieces of paper and lines drawn on a map, if no one believed in these pieces of paper and lines on maps it would cease to exist.

The nation state is next on the list of business models that the internet is going to kill. They aren't going to take it lightly.

[sigzero]

Not only no but hell no. There is no justification you could give me to think that would be a 'good' idea.

[orblivion]

My personal feeling:

It's sortof inevitable. Governments are subject to economic forces. They can't make the Internet go away by decree. They can make their country's access go away by decree, but that's economic suicide. For example, does China want to risk giving their citizens access to all the goodies on the other side of the great firewall? But they have to do it to keep up. They will decide that ruling over a prosperous country is worth more to them than being a tyrant.

[ratsbane]

I just accidentally down voted this when I meant to up vote. IPad, small arrows, big fingers. Sorry about that.

[edit] not that I completely agree, just that I think it's an idea worth more exploration.

[bdunbar]

places the internet above the sovereignty of any nation

How would that work?

[cabalamat]

It's called the Pirate Party.

[rheide]

I'd like to see pigs fly.

[jarin]

Hats off to Mozilla for discovering that dealing with DHS is exactly like dealing with Righthaven and the RIAA.

[eloisius]

Supposing they comply with the subsequent court order, what's to prevent the 10 variations that will pop up to replace it? This would surely only proliferate add-ons with the exact same functionality.

[pmh]

Previous discussion on the original blog post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2518075

[ltamake]

Mozilla just went up in my book.

[trafficlight]

What have they ever done that's been harmful to you?

[Dilpil]

Wait a minute- DHS? As in, department of homeland security? Why are they involved in this even?

[lotharbot]

DHS absorbed the Customs department, which has power to deal with issues surrounding counterfeit goods. The domains DHS has been taking down have redistributed digital content without license/permission, which DHS considers to be a form of counterfeiting.

(Not saying they're right, just explaining why they're involved.)

[lurchpop]

A major reason to support Mozilla over Google (Chrome) who've gotten way too cozy with the gov over the past few years.

[maeon3]

Close that car hood citizen, there are secrets in there, don't make me taze you.

[fleitz]

Ihre papier bitte.