• Long-term 1st Amendment Protections

    From Tortillaretreat@VERT to All on Thu Mar 11 21:55:51 2021
    Hello everyone.


    As we all know, in recent years, peoples of all different backgrounds and views have been censored for the expression of poltical views not concurring with the status quo: examples include the deplatforming of Parler for its right-wing leanings, the non-sensical monetization practices by Youtube, best covered here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll8zGaWhofU, and perhaps more that you can think of. Whether or not you agree with the views that these people express, I find the fact that only a few sources have control over the information that the majority of people can have access to alarming in the Information Age. Sure, smaller portions of the internet, like niche imageboards, BBSes like our own, and other such communities might not be affected as quickly or as throughly, but we could still very well be silenced in an instant if our opinions were thought to be "not okay". If we escape the clutches of ISPs forever, and encryption is only a stopgap measure, how can we make sure that the freedom of opinion, even unpopular ones, from government or other business(which at this point of lobbying may as well be the government in many respects) censorship that this country and the internet as a whole claim as one of its core values be preserved in the long term?

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    ■ Synchronet ■ Vertrauen ■ Home of Synchronet ■ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net
  • From Arelor@VERT/PALANT to Tortillaretreat on Fri Mar 12 03:30:39 2021
    Re: Long-term 1st Amendment Protections
    By: Tortillaretreat to All on Thu Mar 11 2021 09:55 pm

    Hello everyone.


    As we all know, in recent years, peoples of all different backgrounds and views have been censored for the expression of
    poltical views not concurring with the status quo: examples include the deplatforming of Parler for its right-wing leanings,
    the non-sensical monetization practices by Youtube, best covered here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll8zGaWhofU, and perh
    more that you can think of. Whether or not you agree with the views that these people express, I find the fact that only a f
    sources have control over the information that the majority of people can have access to alarming in the Information Age. Su
    smaller portions of the internet, like niche imageboards, BBSes like our own, and other such communities might not be affect
    as quickly or as throughly, but we could still very well be silenced in an instant if our opinions were thought to be "not
    okay". If we escape the clutches of ISPs forever, and encryption is only a stopgap measure, how can we make sure that the
    freedom of opinion, even unpopular ones, from government or other business(which at this point of lobbying may as well be th
    government in many respects) censorship that this country and the internet as a whole claim as one of its core values be
    preserved in the long term?


    Build a group with a recogniceable identity and buy political representation from a political party.

    Use your political party to crush your opposition.

    Technological solutions such as darknets work because supressors are usually very slow to adapt to anti-censorship methods, but
    the only thing they offer you are places to hide while the opposition takes over the world. Moving to a BBS in a darknet is
    akin to digging an underground bunker and hidding in it while the zombi apocalypse ravages the surface. It is what you do when
    everything is lost and the only thing you can do is hide and hope they won't locate your bunker.

    If you are concerned about censorship you are concerned about a social problem, not a technological one. You need to deploy
    soldiers in order to stop the zombies if you want to take the surface back.

    So as I said:

    * Build a recognizeable community (ie. privacy nerds, hardcore independent journalists, whatever). The community needs to be
    very tribalistic: they have to shun everybody in their sector that is not aligned with your goals. They also need to be a
    community that is easy to pander to by big companies - so big companies try to sell products tailored to your community and
    thus give you free advertising.
    * Get powerful in numbers.
    * When something goes against your goals, you sell such action in a way that makes it look like your community is being
    attacked, and have your community lynch your enemy.
    * Outbuy political representation from your enemies by buying more.

    TL;DR: Create a sect, make it strong, unleash it against your enemies.

    It works. Empirical evidence to be found in modern SJW movements.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken

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    ■ Synchronet ■ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL
  • From Tortillaretreat@VERT to Arelor on Sun Mar 14 17:02:54 2021
    Re: Long-term 1st Amendment Protections
    By: Arelor to Tortillaretreat on Fri Mar 12 2021 03:30 am

    Sounds good. Where do we start? Are the people of the Synchro BBSes interested in being the new privacy fighters?

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    ■ Synchronet ■ Vertrauen ■ Home of Synchronet ■ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net
  • From Arelor@VERT/PALANT to Tortillaretreat on Sun Mar 14 20:01:08 2021
    Re: Long-term 1st Amendment Protections
    By: Tortillaretreat to Arelor on Sun Mar 14 2021 05:02 pm

    Re: Long-term 1st Amendment Protections
    By: Arelor to Tortillaretreat on Fri Mar 12 2021 03:30 am

    Sounds good. Where do we start? Are the people of the Synchro BBSes interest in being the new privacy fighters?


    Online activism only works when you have boots on the ground.

    I think best strategy is to start an association with some non-political goal (or a non-recognizable political goal) in order to get people attracted. Say, a sword fighting association. Once you have members and associates enough pumping money until it is selfśustainable you can start expanding. "This is a pro-sword association, and the current anti-knife laws opress us, so let's go protest!"

    It sounds silly, but I left my local boardgaming association because it was being used _this_ way quite openly. The board games are a facade, then the money gets funneled into politics. Specially when it is gov money :-)

    I have tried to build my own (non evil) groups locally over the years, but I always fail because I am a loser with no friends, so sorry I can't be of more help :-(

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken

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    ■ Synchronet ■ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL
  • From MRO@VERT/BBSESINF to Tortillaretreat on Mon Mar 15 20:46:55 2021
    Re: Long-term 1st Amendment Protections
    By: Tortillaretreat to Arelor on Sun Mar 14 2021 05:02 pm

    Re: Long-term 1st Amendment Protections
    By: Arelor to Tortillaretreat on Fri Mar 12 2021 03:30 am

    Sounds good. Where do we start? Are the people of the Synchro BBSes

    no
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    ■ Synchronet ■ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::
  • From Tortillaretreat@VERT to Arelor on Tue Mar 16 13:37:55 2021
    Re: Long-term 1st Amendment Protections
    By: Arelor to Tortillaretreat on Sun Mar 14 2021 08:01 pm

    Re: Long-term 1st Amendment Protections
    By: Tortillaretreat to Arelor on Sun Mar 14 2021 05:02 pm

    Re: Long-term 1st Amendment Protections
    By: Arelor to Tortillaretreat on Fri Mar 12 2021 03:30 am

    Sounds good. Where do we start? Are the people of the Synchro BBSes interest in being the new privacy fighters?


    Online activism only works when you have boots on the ground.

    I think best strategy is to start an association with some non-political goal (or a non-recognizable political goal) in order to get people attracted. Say, a
    sword fighting association. Once you have members and associates enough pumping money until it is selfśustainable you can start expanding. "This is a
    pro-sword

    Got you; for example, make a tech club in our local area, make the members realize that the Senate's anti-privacy laws oppress them unecessarily, then we all link up and make shit happen. I'm in, and will do what I can.

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    ■ Synchronet ■ Vertrauen ■ Home of Synchronet ■ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net
  • From Arelor@VERT/PALANT to Tortillaretreat on Tue Mar 16 18:23:45 2021
    Re: Long-term 1st Amendment Protections
    By: Tortillaretreat to Arelor on Tue Mar 16 2021 01:37 pm

    Re: Long-term 1st Amendment Protections
    By: Arelor to Tortillaretreat on Sun Mar 14 2021 08:01 pm

    Re: Long-term 1st Amendment Protections
    By: Tortillaretreat to Arelor on Sun Mar 14 2021 05:02 pm

    Re: Long-term 1st Amendment Protections
    By: Arelor to Tortillaretreat on Fri Mar 12 2021 03:30 am

    Sounds good. Where do we start? Are the people of the Synchro BBSes interest in being
    new privacy fighters?


    Online activism only works when you have boots on the ground.

    I think best strategy is to start an association with some non-political goal (or a
    non-recognizable political goal) in order to get people attracted. Say, a sword fighting
    association. Once you have members and associates enough pumping money until it is
    self¿ustainable you can start expanding. "This is a pro-sword

    Got you; for example, make a tech club in our local area, make the members realize that the
    Senate's anti-privacy laws oppress them unecessarily, then we all link up and make shit happ
    I'm in, and will do what I can.


    I think it works better if you have a group of local friends already in.

    I say first start small. Learn about non-profit regulations in the area, get a place, gather a
    goup of like minded people and set some activities. Even if the activities are just meeting
    saturday night and playing retro videogames in a cellar. That is enough to justify the
    existence of the associatio. As long as you have regular meetings you have the ability to get
    people invited and interested and thus the ability to expand. Depending in your local
    regulations you can get tax benefits for being a cultural non-profit even if all you do is play
    BBS games on retro hardware.

    Seriously, I have seen people create a non-profit in order to adopt 5 horses, and they got all
    the benefits of becoming an animal rescue center :-)

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL