* IMPORTANT * THE most important thread EVER

[£3.73]

Please have a look at this link.

http://blackouteurope.eu/

Those of you who have been following what's really going on in the world, and not relying on the mainstream media to get it, will not be surprised.

However, everyone else ... WAKE UP FFS !!!

This is not a joke - I repeat - THIS IS NOT A JOKE.

DO SOMETHING. If you value freedom, doing nothing is not an option.

[A Horse called Juan Face]

Nothing there.

[£3.73]

The link I posted has either gone down (due to exceeding it's bandwidth)

or been taken down ....

I'll try and find a mirror site.

Basically the European Parliament is voting in the next few weeks to end the open internet as we know it.
To my knowledge there has been nothing mentioned about this in the media... but it is happening.

Welcome to China.

[blueboyno1]

http://www.politics.ie/current-affairs/ ... -24-a.html

Dont know if this link is any help.

[Sheik Yir Erse]

most days I feel like Gene Hackman in the Poseidon Adventure

Wooahh there £3.73 ........ are you sure it's not Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory? What a load of old scaremongering of the highest calibre.

Anyone who wants full internet access will still be able to get it, you can't put the genie back in the bottle. This is quite simply a turf war between telco's and VOIPco's. Telco's generate so much cash from us, the humble home owner, paying for our residential phone calls and line rental. The majority of that massive income is at risk from VOIP co's like Skype, and they're simply trying to protect themselves by pressuring EU to allow ISP's to block content, and you can guess who'll be top of their list to be blocked.

I think T-Mobile still block Skype access(?). I wonder who is the largest ISP in Germany?? Hmmm, could it be owned by Deutsche Telekom, the same parent as T-mobile? All sorts of legal wrangling going on there.

How much power do you think BT, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom (owner of Europe's largest ISP in Orange), and all the ex national Telco's wield at the EU? Pretty much all the large ISP's in Europe are owned by former national telco's (Tiscali might be the main exception ) It's in their interests to protect their revenue streams.

In a similar vein, another thing is think about is continued adoption of VOIP on your mobile. How much do these companies earn from us on SMS Text messages, all that income would disappear as well, you would simply IM your friends for 'free'. So watch for the Mobile ISP's trying to block that also (this is already being tried by some)

This is nothing more than the usual multi-national, political posturing - designed to gain them concessions from the EU. But you'll still all be able to access the entire internet - if that's what you want, but you might have to pay a higher premium for that right - but god forbid we go back to the days of AOL-style offerings

IMHO - this isn't a battle between good and evil for freedom of information, it's simply a battle for our cold, hard cash.

I don't think it's the end of the world quite yet, but I have stocked up on baked beans..... and this post is testament to that fact

[£3.73]

Shiek, if only you were right ... I would be so happy.

I'm professionaly well aquainted with telco's, VOIP & the internet.
You do make some good points (about telco's & their wily ways), but here are some of mine.


1stly, geographical border doors have been closing over the last decade, especially between continents.

2ndly: electronic borders have been closing even faster, especially recently, (or havent you noticed?) The most obvious examples being youtube & news sites (bit of a hassle accessing indigenous content).

3rdly: There's been not a mention of this in the media. (and I don't miss much)

4thly: All 3 main political parties are currently getting their ideologies from the same think tank !!!(What's that all about ?)

5thly. Although we all know it's morally wrong ... file sharing site Pirate Bay were technically misjudged guilty last week in their high profile trial in Sweden. It was show trial & the verdict for the time being would only apply to Sweden. However. the implications of this verdict are technically vast. It would make sharing links illegal !!! ie. Google & the other search engines, and in fact the whole of the internet would be illegal if this ruling was implemented elsewhere.

6thly: We already live in a country that is openly proposing databases to store every mouse click, every phone call or electronic move we make. Let's not forget the DNA databases & all the other personal information databases it has already embraced.

7thly: Internet 2 already exists. (for those that need unrestricted access)

I'm not a prophet of doom honestly, you couldn't actually make this stuff up if you tried.
I'm not Mel Gibson either (didn't he turn out to be right? )
I'm just Gene Hackman in the Poseidon Adventure.

btw. the original link is back up

[Sheik Yir Erse]

The Pirate Bay boys have been stiched up like kippers, I'm sure sense will prevail and they'll be OK.

What a fantastic quote from one of the guys, saying he'd been charged with organised crime, and he could never get one of the 'partners' out of his bed in the morning - so, at the very least, they should have been charged with dis-organised crime! brilliant

All your points are perfectly valid, but other than no. 3, I'm not sure how any of the rest of them will be accelerated by this 'potential' legislation? i.e. geographic borders will continue to close, media will continue to be puppets and politicians will continue to be muppets, etc.

I'm glad you mentioned point 6, 'cos that probably where more of the concern should be.

Anyway, in a certain light you do have a look of Mel Gibson