The longer the Concorde fallacies marinate, the harder that cognitive dissonance hits.

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I have mixed feelings. I do support the Swartz-influenced “information should be free” perspective, and I acknowledge that progressing toward that end requires popularizing a sentiment that influences the democratic process, while it still has some teeth.

But, no doubt popularity casts a spotlight on all data sharing, and link aggregators don’t have as much skin in the game as file hosts. Enabling easy access accelerates the war on information access. Perhaps it’s naive to think piracy and/or information sharing can compete with the deep pockets of capitalist stakeholders. However, I also think this conflict is inevitable as it becomes cheaper and easier to ID all users on a network. I wonder if the time is nigh for the activism that underpins a lot of the information underworld to play out. We are clearly in the acceleration phase of the human arc. Piracy becoming “annoying” is the least of our problems.

I initially downvoted you but then upvoted because I do think your comment relevant and interesting to think about.

A few years ago, due in part to frustration with our information environs, but also for fun, I decided not to get internet after moving to a new apartment. I didn’t have real internet for about 2 years. I did have 1GB of data per month through my phone service and used my phone or a mPCIE 4g card as an uplink for text-only internet. I restricted myself to JS-free http applications or light protocols like gopher, irc, rss, etc. I quite enjoyed my time having to be very mindful of my data usage. It forced me to fully audit all the technology on my LAN.

If this kind of legislation passes, I simply won’t pay for internet. If both ISPs and telecoms start restricting devices, then I’ll forego cell-based data as well. If public wifi spots become too restrictive, I won’t patron those spots. I’ve accumulated more offline content on my server than I could ever consume in many lifetimes, so it really isn’t a loss. Hell, it’d be an opportunity to organize it all well, and share via meshnets. Don’t tempt me with a good time, politicians. I could save money, nerd out, and cut the noise from my information environments? Sign me up!

edit: I wanted to add: I do really like having a fiber link, but the main draw is having the ability to host my own services. If that goes away due to hierarchical pricing or device/encryption restrictions, 95% of the value prop disappears. I will not be strong armed into using overly-centralized services.

Maybe the brain worm came from taste-testing raccoon cock rather than snorting coke off toilet seats. Just the type of intrepid thinker we want in charge of the Health Department, heh.