Police State or New World Order online

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   Bard of Elyposted 12 years ago

   What really annoys me is that many websites and social networking sites too seem to be a reflection of the growing police state reality in many parts of the world. Everything we post is monitored and there are security checks in so many places. There is censorship and there are anonymous moderators.
   
   Posting on the Internet is not the easy and friendly place it once was!
   
   Your comments, please!

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      wabondposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The internet was created by geeks and hippies who believed in freedom for everyone.  Now it is being taken over by businessmen who are only interested in power and control.  I think we are going to have a sort of internet war between the geeks and businessmen for control of the internet.

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         Mellonyyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Wow, what a great opinion! Completely agree with you wabond.

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2. 77

   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   You can put anything you want on your own website.

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3. 73

   Reality Bytesposted 12 years ago

   I think the monitoring of internet traffic could reveal quite a bit about an individual.  I am sure government takes full advantage of this information. It also gives law enforcement the ability to catch confessed criminal activity through irresponsible social media behavior.  Often the confessions are accompanied by pics or video providing evidence as well as the confession.
   
   I believe the internet is a system of control to keep individuals situated in one spot, giving law enforcement the chance to track whereabouts as well as activity.  It can also be used for propaganda purposes, tell a lie enough times and it becomes accepted as fact!

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4. 85

   aa liteposted 12 years ago

   I have never had a problem posting anything online that I felt like posting.  What does concern me is the surveillance.  In the UK there were plans to spy on every email, text message etc.  I'm not sure what the status of the plans is now, in the name of anti-terrorism.  This worried me a bit, in terms of quite innocent comments getting misinterpreted, and just personal information being stored by somebody.  But then if you think about the volume of data they would collect, I think trivial personal stuff would be ok.
   
   Of course there was the case of a person who tweeted a joke about blowing things up at an airport, he was annoyed cause the airport was closed because of snow, being prosecuted.  I think the case got thrown out on appeal, but not after the poor guy had lost his job etc.
   
   In my view there has been an alarming number of prosecutions of people because of what they've tweeted or posted on their Facebook, at least in the UK.  Some of the stuff was really nasty, but I think criminal prosecution is taking things a bit far. 
   
   I can't exactly imagine you posting hateful things, Bard, so I'm not sure if this is what you had in mind.

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5. 77

   CloudExplorerposted 12 years ago

   There will be policing anywhere human beings decide to build into and or surface, and especially once large scale monetization (With networks like Paypal, Amazon, Ebay, Online Banking etc...) is going to be involved, and as for the ways the internet has evolved into a money making machine for investors, some very fortunate small and large business that's moved online as I'm sure most of us already know very well.
   
   The fact that everything is getting highly scrutinized is also due to far to much malicious activity that's been going on for years, and things are beginning to tighten up a great deal and on many networks, especially with Google taking evasive action with their DMCA take downs and all prosecutions of online crooks of copyright infringement, and even worst technological crimes committed, using computing devices.
   
   If we don't self police the web, and all of our collective web locations, it will become completely haywire, and uncontrollable, as it once was way back during the popup era here, and when almost every computer was crashing due to malicious activities, and web browser vulnerabilities.
   
   So its both a necessary good, and also a necessary evil, I state the obvious evil fact because of invasion of digital data and privacy which is 100% authorized by the U.S. Government for all online U.S. Internet users.
   
   So yup, its become no different on the web, then things down on the ground, but its quite alright with me because I have nothing to hide, and I'm here to help protect the digital rights and privileges of this awesome technology we have today. I'm also here to help people learn how to properly utilize these machines, networks and all.
   
   So that's my perspective on the matter, I hope it's sufficient enough for adding some good food for thought.

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6. 76

   Bard of Elyposted 12 years ago

   I just get so sick of filling in capchas, and remembering passwords and then when you are actually in so many of these sites it is very easy to get into trouble for what you post. What makes that worse is that a lot of the time, like happens here, it is not even a human being that is finding fault with what you posted!  You are arguing with technology or an unknown moderator.
   
   This place has become nothing like it once was. All you have to do to see what I mean is look at your Account page - mine is always covered with alerts and the new Idled ZZs and I get tired of trying to sort it all out, don't you?
   
   All these sites also make big changes overnight that many users do not like but they have no say in it!  It isn't the friendly experience it once was posting online!

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      CloudExplorerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes you are right about the frustrations, but it is a very light price to pay for us all to remain fully protected at all times, from intruders who seek to rob our precious personal data. (That's not to say the online security measures is 100% secure, but it is at least a safety net, and deterrent from thieves digging ever so deeper into a single web location)
      
      Think about it, many of us utilize Google Adsense for earning revenue streams and all, our private banking info is there, imagine if there wasn't any automated systems in place to detect the presence of a malicious computer hacker, or if Paypal, or the American Express home page had no capcha sign in access to verify that it was actually a human accessing the information there you may have provided them.
      
      Your whole life could be crumbling instantaneously shortly thereafter if these necessary security measure weren't in place, and they haven't always been there, but every time someone screws with the security flaws a any given online technological systems, there's bound to be a systems programmer, or computer engineer to figure out how to plug the holes.
      
      So think of it as your protection more, then that of an annoyance, and the web has been getting better year after year, as opposed to getting much more worse. We all can earn income now on it, and without coding skills neither, and I believe that is a huge step digitally for sure. The other thing is Crowd Sourcing, or Funding, where we can help one another on huge ways monetarily where such a thing did not exist way back in the Internet that you wish was still here Bard of Ely.

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      1. 81

         WriteAngledposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Crowd-sourcing is the new exploitation. 
         
         In my own field of translation, there are attempts to cloud-source translation of certain web sites, which in effect means that misguided people end up doing the work for nothing, for a pittance or for some meaningless accolade.
         
         Does this worry me? Actually no. I am secure enough to know that, in my particular narrow area of specialised translation, such amateur attempts will never succeed because too much is at stake.
         
         Unfortunately, less specialised translators, particularly those just entering the field. are being totally messed around by this "cloud" concept and by so-called translation agencies, which find translators for the jobs they have managed to capture by placing an advert on a web site for translators.
         
         If I believe that the human race has any positive tendencies, then I must also believe that one day all these idiotic cloud-sourced ways of working will die the death they deserve.

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            CloudExplorerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Not sure what you mean by Cloud-Source and all, but I'll do some research on it all as to learn more about its validity WriteAngled, maybe that can be part of the topic of my next hub, who knows, either way thanks for the cool wording terminology and for the inspiration if I decide to go ahead with such a challenge to both research, and potentially write. After all that's all I'm after here if I'm not attempting to help folks.
            
            I'm seeking for new things or new people to inspire me to write on differing subjects, so we will see, oh and thanks for replying to my post here, that was cool of you to do & its nice to meet up with you here in the forum section as well.
            
            Chat with ya soon.

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            CloudExplorerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I'll also provide your location as my source of inspiration if I indeed choose to write such a hub, thanks again.

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      wabondposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      If you get fed up with it Bard, then a lot of others will feel the same way.  In the end the businessmen that control these sites do need customers, and if they piss everyone off, then they lose custom.  For instance, for the way Google is behaving I now will not use Google and use other search engines.  If everyone took this attitude then Google will lose it's position of power.  It is important that people do not feel helpless about this and stand up to these bullies.

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         Bard of Elyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         William, as I am sure you are well aware sites, including this one and Facebook, are losing users daily! As for Google, my good friend C.J. Stone was really annoyed recently to find that he has lost his account and doesn't even know why!  Google can do that sort of thing!  We are all supposed to live in fear and be controlled!
         
         I see all of this as a graphic reflection of what a corrupt  society we live in and a police state offline and on!

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            wabondposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, and if people get frighten and intimated by Google and the other bullies then they have won.  Google still needs the goodwill of the people to survive and if it upset so many people that they refuse to use it's services, then it is doomed.  People need to voice their displeasure and not use any service that bullies them.

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            1. 76

               Bard of Elyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Unfortunately Google and the other Internet controllers know that a large proportion of people will go along with whatever is handed out because they depend on these sites for money! As usual money is being used to control people!

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                  psycheskinnerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Meaning you want to have your free speech, and have someone else pay you for it?  That would be more like "paid" speech--no?

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                     Bard of Elyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     The point I am making is that money is the main controlling factor to keep people towing the line. That is sad in itself!   You don't get freedom of speech on most websites but that is another matter.

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                        Uninvited Writerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        The only place to get complete freedom of speech is on your own website; all sites have policies. There are other ways to make money without having to rely on Adsense. Publishing your own ebooks is always good too.

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                        psycheskinnerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        You get freedom of speech in your own living room and your own website.  Other peoples living rooms or websites are run by whatever rules please them. That being the exercise of their freedoms. You can set up your server, and launched your site, saying any damn thing you please.  That strikes me as freedom.

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                           wabondposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                           Freedom of speech is about allowing other to hear you, who happen to be interested in what you say.  You have freedom of speech in a prison cell, you can talk to the walls and say whatever you like.  Why is it that some people are allowed to communicate to the world, and others are not?  The system is being rigged, so only those with wealth and power can communicate their thoughts to the world.

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            Sarra Garrettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Big Brother is watching us all more than ever now Bard.  It's a sad state of affairs we are all in. Freedom of Speech doesn't exhist anymore.  As you know Big Brother wants to demonize everyone.  Have you heard of the "Re-education camps" that are being put up everywhere?  The world as we knew it doesn't exhist anymore and it's sad.  Bill HR645 is really scarey.

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            1. 76

               Bard of Elyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I agree with you that "the world as we knew it doesn't exist anymore" and I wish I could go back in time. I see very little good about the modern world!
               
               I don't know about "re-education camps", no, but it sounds like the FEMA concentration camps conspiracy theory.

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                  Sarra Garrettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  that's exactly what they are  being called now.  These are real and I've seen them myself.  I don't want to sound like an alarmist, but the "S*&T is going to be hitting the fan sooner than what we all think.  Just look at what is going on everywhere in the world.  I too wish we could turn back time but unfortunately we can't.  The unemployment numbers here that recently came out have definately been 'tweeked' to show the economy is improving when it is getting worse and more and more plants are being shut down or bought out.

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7. 76

   Bard of Elyposted 12 years ago

   I don't know what "crowd-sourcing"  or "cloud-sourcing" is but of course, I do not what having my own site is about - the problem with this is you need to pay for it to get a decent site and in my past experience it doesn't matter how good it is if you don't get the traffic.  In 2003 and 2004 I had a site hosted by ntlworld that I lost when I moved here but although it had great posts it had hardly any traffic.  HubPages used to at least provide that, though that has now gone following the Panda problem.

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