Let’s talk about Net Neutrality. It’s the belief the same Internet company that provides you with home service should provide you with mobile service. It guarantees you quality service without the blocking, confusion or mind games. This freedom has allowed social media to explode over the last eight or nine years. Those days could be numbered. Now the FCC is coming up with a plan to keep Net Neutrality, but it? includes: Using a loophole, a loophole that allows major Internet/communication companies to create slow and fast lanes how they see fit. It allows Internet service providers to negotiate backroom deals with website and app creators. Rates will likely vary, and free services could get bumped into the slow lane.
Now you may say to yourself, “These companies will do right by the people.” Will they? Ever hear of a saying, ‘When the cats are away the rats will play?’ If this loophole is exploited, what’s to stop these companies from deciding which site or app gets first class bidding? Service providers could also use this loophole to censor certain freedoms of speech. So you support a cause the powers that be don’t like? Off to the slow lane for you, pal. That’s my concern here. So is the new Net Neutrality going to keep protecting all involved? Or is it going to open a Pandora’s box for exploitation and censorship?
Some time ago, I blogged about Turkey’s censorship on social media, mostly because Turkey’s prime minister Erdogan got caught in scandal.
Turkey’s court system took up the issue. They ruled in favor of…the people! They ruled the ban on social media sites like You Tube violates human rights. Twitter was included in this social media ban, but Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled that ban violated the nation’s laws. The court in Ankara said the You Tube ban was too broad and instead of blocking the whole website, it just allowed the blocking of 15 videos. But Prime Minister Erdogan is hardly backing down. According to Reuters, Erdogan says he will comply, but doesn’t respect the ruling.
At this point, who cares what Erdogan respects? I’m sorry if that sounds harsh, but anybody with that much leadership and authority who would censor all of social media to cover his own foul ups will get little respect from me. I do have respect for the Turkish court system. They listened to the people. You think the people wanted their social media shut down? They didn’t. They painted graffiti I.P. addresses for people to get to their social media addresses. So I salute the Turkish people and courts for taking a stand against censorship and borderline tyranny. What can other nations learn from Turkey?
According to the IRS, Bitcoins are just that, property, not currency. So Bitcoins aren’t fungible (Returnable or negotiable in any kind of substitution). For example, if something cost $100, giving the cashier 5 $20 is just as good as giving them a $100 bill. Or putting it on a charge card is just as good as giving them 5 $20 bills. But they are still subject to capital gains taxation. But the days of Bitcoin being the next big financial or technology based craze is almost over.
But as of now, Bitcoin can still be used. Contractors can be paid in this currency so long as they declare it’s fair market on the day of payment as part of gross income. No more sudden price increases afterwards. If consumers convert their Bitcoins to regular currency, you can report those gains to a single transaction. As far as miners are concerned, from here on out, they must include fair market value on the currency the day it is mined, and not wait around until it’s circulated for a higher or lower drive. So with all that being said, is Bitcoin even worth investing in?
Without giving my age, I’m old enough to remember watching the local news at 6pm and the national news at 6:30 and that was your only news source for the day. It looks like those days are over!
According of a Pew Research poll, nearly a third of adults get at least some of their news on Facebook. At least half of all social media users either share, re-post, obtain and discuss news issues. Eleven percent submit their own content to news media and blogs. Then they took the five top social media sources: Facebook You Tube, Twitter Google, Linkedin. In all of these, the vast majority news consumers of these websites were Gen-Xers or Millennials, people under 50.
We can read a lot of things into these stats, but one thing is that younger people just don’t trust mainstream news anymore. Okay, it’s easy to say we’ve been around the Internet longer than our parents, but I’m convinced something else is going on here. I know there’s a lot of news I get from You Tube and other alternative media that mainstream media won’t touch. I’m not the only one. But you must be careful about some stories. There have been many hoaxes, particularly with celebrity deaths. When you see that, you need to check with mainstream media for that. But what’s to make of this poll (there’s a lot that I haven’t covered; this blog includes a link to that for your own viewing pleasure)? Should this be a wake up call to mainstream news or is this the way it will always be?
Yesterday, I talked about Turkey’s crackdown…well…let’s call it outright ban on Google and Twitter and what a firestorm it’s causing. Now, Google itself addresses the issue.
Google rejected Turkey’s request to take down You Tube videos reporting Turkish government corruption. They’ve been embroiled in scandal recently, and insiders say Google won’t take such exposing videos down is because it’s an illegal move. But many at Google fear Turkey’s shutdown of You Tube is just a matter of time, but as of Friday, March 21, 2014, it was still up. The videos Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan wants taken down include him allegedly instructing his son to hide money from investigators. But Google is known for it’s refusal to take down videos, especially when governments get involved. “We support a free and open Internet throughout the world and are concerned whenever and wherever it comes under threat,” one Google employee said.
Legal or not, this is the right thing to do. No government anywhere should be telling major online corporations what and what not to post. Yes, there are controversies about what might be inappropriate or not, but that’s up to the people and parents to decide. That’s not even what’s going on here. What’s going on here is a Erdogan got caught in an alleged wrongdoing and now he’s censoring the Web and wants Google to help him cover his hide. Even a 5th grader can figure this one out. But I give props to Google for taking a stand like this. But I am concerned for Turkey and the people. If the Prime Minister is going this far just to hide this minor of an offense, what other skeletons might he have?
Several months ago, I did a top 10, or should I say bottom 10, on the most censored countries in the world when it comes to the Internet. Maybe I should redo that list.
Turkey, considered a moderate Middle Eastern nation, votes to widen online censorship. The Turkish government has blocked Google and Twitter access. And the people don’t like it. They’re getting around it by typing 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 to access these websites. People are even using graffiti to bunk this system. That’s right: they’re painting these codes in public squares so that their neighbors can have the access they deserve.??It’s already been dubbed one of the worst attempts at censorship of all-time. Adding more insult, the Turkish people are using Open DNS and VPN, assuming they’re still going.
Good for the Turkish people. I applaud what they’re doing to stand up against censorship. Just like in previous periods of history, non-violent rebellion works. I hope the government gets the message. Why should America and the rest of the west even care? Keep in mind if a moderate nation is using such extremes to enforce censorship, whose next? They’re not the only ones. I read one article where Russia and China could take over the whole Internet. Knowing their governments’ track record, you trust online freedom to these two nations? And whose to say other governments won’t follow Turkey’s example?
