Internet Alarmism and the Ban on Online Gambling
So I already ranted about the online gambling ban here, but here's something that really struck me as odd: an article over at the BBC talking about how this proves that the Net can be easily controlled.
Excuse me?
It's the same in the People's Republic of China, where the government knows that the vast expenditure on its 'Great Firewall' and apparatus of censorship and control can never be completely effective but still thinks it worth doing.
So you admit that it's not going to work and this is proof of the fact we can clamp down on the Net? Say what? I forget the number of people who are doing nothing but trying to plug the holes in the "Great Firewall," but I believe it's in the five digits. And they can't keep up. Seems to me that's proof that…well, you're flat wrong.
In fact, when it comes to online gambling and the true reprecussions of all this nonsense, you'll forgive me if I side with Cringely on this one.
The Net escapes. The Net can collectively think its way out of just about anything. It was created to survive a nuclear war–and granted, the devastation of a nuclear war can sometimes seem small in comparison to the lingering devastation of bad laws–but still, it's too robust to just roll over and go, "Oh, you got me."
