DeSopa: a Firefox addon to easily bypass SOPA DNS blocking, Hacker News
I love this approach!
SOPA? DeSOPA, MF! Yes, run circles around these idiots.
Tamer, you also do a great job of explaining in passionately clear, objective terms, the SOPA agenda, the weaknesses of its assuptions and it’s dire consequences.
However, I strongly take issue with your own assumptions about the value of today’s internet services and the role of the internet in human progress. Don’t let trendy zeitgeist or wishful thinking undercut your excellent, commendable tactics!
Specifically, you say:
3) …we would not have many of the online services we take for granted…
4) …The internet creates market efficiencies that forces industries to adapt, thus pushing forward progress for humanity as a whole. … the Internet, built by the masses…
It is as foolish to take the internet for granted as it is to try to dictate to it. Foolish. YouTube, Pandora? Born yesterday. Primative. Self-serving. Base and not very interesting. Not of lasting social value. Civilization can go on without them. Don’t fall into the internet’s own perspective of it’s own importance.
The internet is not an agent of human progress. Like the U.S. interstate system, it’s fundamentally a psuedo-military artifact of our economic system with lots of handy, nifty, shiny services built on top of it. Writing and the scientific method are agents of human progress. Rule of law and international treaties are. Pencils, optical lenses, printing presses, mass produced shoes, power grids, hair dryers, video tape, asepsis, the A-10 Warhog, carboratuers and the internet as clever technologies.
And the internet has been built by businesses, governments and a few stalwarts and visionaries, not the masses.
DeSOPA is a great response to SOPA. SOPA is dangerously shortsighted and fearful. Humankind is not at risk. The decentralized, accessible power of the internet ought to be fought for and advanced. Good work, man. Don’t get carried away. It doesn’t serve your cause.
