Corporations, Bin Laden, and Child Porn

Continuing the argument that the internet is a twenty-first century Pandora's box, I want to point out to a couple recent attacks. The first is as old as the hills: muddy your opponent with the indefensible and then take the moral high ground in demanding a solution. What is indefensible? Child porn and terrorism! Attorney General Alberto "Torture's cool" Gonzalez has been railing on the internet since he got appointed. Read some of his recent remarks:

"Everyone in this room understands that as the power and reach of the Internet has increased, so has its use for criminal activity.
Computers have given terrorists powerful weapons in their war against freedom. For instance, we know that terrorist operatives use the Internet – chat rooms and websites – to communicate about plots and conduct reconnaissance for future attacks.
The same sophisticated technologies have allowed common criminals to expand the scope and reach of their illicit activities. They have given criminals new ways to find victims, new ways to cloak their schemes, and new ways to evade the law."

and

Chat boards and instant messages allow criminals or terrorists to exchange information and plot together, but oftentimes the electronic evidence they leave behind can be deleted with a single click of a mouse.

and

Just as people harness the lightning fast distribution channels of the Internet to spread goodwill or share photographs of the grandkids, criminals can distribute illicit materials to thousands, even millions, of unsuspecting victims with one keystroke. What starts in Miami, Florida can be in Maine or Mozambique in a fraction of a second.

(all from this speech)

"Spread goodwill" might mean indymedia and such to us, but we can harbor no such illusions about his interpretation. Every "criminal" and "terrorist plot" of this could easily be replaced by "activist" and "protest." Gonzalez isn't stupid. In his recent testimony against child pornography, he rails against it emphatically. No one is defending child pornography. But he clearly links the problem of child pornography to the internet in each and every instance before getting to the solution:

The investigation and prosecution of child predators depends critically on the availability of evidence that is often in the hands of Internet service providers. This evidence will be available for us to use only if the providers retain the records for a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately, the failure of some Internet service providers to keep records has hampered our ability to conduct investigations in this area.
As a result, I have asked the appropriate experts at the Department to examine this issue and provide me with proposed recommendations. And I am going to reach out personally to the CEOs of the leading service providers and to other industry leaders to solicit their input and assistance.
Record retention by Internet service providers consistent with the legitimate privacy rights of Americans, is an issue that must be addressed.

(Testimony here)
Why should this be of concern? Gonzalez is the guy who pushed for the warrantless searches at the Attorney General Ashcroft's sickbed and Ashcroft didn't sign off on them because he was worried about lack of judicial oversight! Why the need for warrantless searches if it's against terrorists or child pornographers? Why should Gonzalez be trusted?

Deep Breath.

What else? Save The Internet is one of those across the board coalitions because congress is doing something so gross that everyone agrees. Essentially, they — they being the bad guys — are trying to figure out a way to make two internets: the walmart internet and the rest of us internet. Type in Walmart and Walmart shows up on your browser pronto, but campusactivism will never seem to load. Read more about it at www.savetheinternet.com
Fun Fact of the Day: Hillary Clinton was on the board of Wal-Mart for six years!