标记档案: 透明政治

US Goverment, Freedom and Internet Manipulation

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The Map has a core philosophy that for various reasons, most of the problems we have in life are not only beyond our control but are often imposed on us by forces we neither recognise or understand. The Map endeavours to make these unrecognised threads in our lives recognisable and armed with this information make a game plan to take us to a better future.

Designed, around the webs we weave in our relationships it is of use in any situation where there is human activity. Including not only our romantic relationships but any relationship that we have, which by its nature includes our relationships with our ruling politicians. There is probably no other area in our lives where the complex weaving of webs leaves us so lied to as politics.

I would like to take a look at a recent Hilary Clinton speech on the freedom of the internet and the freedom to peacefully protest.

(Clinton’s words in italics)

(Transcript of speech extracts from http://www.consortiumnews.com/2011/021711a.html )

“The goal is not to tell people how to use the Internet any more than we ought to tell people how to use any public square, whether it’s Tahrir Square or Times Square,” Clinton said. “The value of these spaces derives from the variety of activities people can pursue in them, from holding a rally to selling their vegetables, to having a private conversation. …

Clinton spoke these words moments after, a few meters in front of her, Ray McGovern, 一 71 year old activist had stood up with his back to her, his silent, peaceful protest prompting two security guards to drag him out of the (public) university auditorium leaving him bruised and bloodied!

“Together, the freedoms of expression, assembly, and association online comprise what I’ve called the freedom to connect. The United States supports this freedom for people everywhere, and we have called on other nations to do the same.”

What the US government is actually doing is creating an army of ‘fake’ online personas to give the impression of consensus of Government policies. This was revealed when HB Gary, a security firm that works for the US Government was hacked into and internal emails were leaked showing -

‘The U.S. government recently offered private intelligence companies contracts to create special software to it help manage a number of “fake” profiles on social media websites.’ HTTP://redactednews.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-is-government-creating-army-of-fake.html

And what ,you may wonder, would be the point of all these fake people chatting online?

Could this have something to do with it?-

‘It is odious — though, of course, completely unsurprising — that the CIA plots ways to manipulate public opinion in foreign countries in order to sustain support for our wars.’

HTTP://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/03/27/wikileaks

“Some have suggested that this theft was justified because governments have a responsibility to conduct all of our work out in the open in the full view of our citizens. I respectfully disagree. … The fact that WikiLeaks used the Internet is not the reason we criticized its actions. [The case of] WikiLeaks does not challenge our commitment to Internet freedom.”

Well I for one would prefer my Government to be ‘out in the open’ if Government is not transparent it means it has something to hide which could be the intention to remove our freedoms. Far fetched? Well if we return to HB Gary’s leaked emails we will find -

‘A graph purporting to be an “organizational chart” identified several other targets, including former New York Times reporter Jennifer 8 Lee, Guardian reporter James Ball, and Manning supporter David House. The report claimed I was “critical” to WikiLeaks’ public support after its website was removed by Amazon and that “it is this level of support that needs to be disrupted”; absurdly speculated that “without the support of people like Glenn, WikiLeaks would fold”; and darkly suggested that “these are established professionals that have a liberal bent, but ultimately most of them if pushed will choose professional preservation over cause.’

HTTP://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/02/11/campaigns

‘ultimately pushed most of them will choose professional preservation over cause’ Is this the freedom Hilary Clinton is speaking about? Well let us be honest the only way to ‘push’ someone into giving up their ‘Liberal’ views is to threaten them and to threaten them you need to have something with which to threaten them with, illegal? Well of course if I was to threaten my neighbour it would be illegal but not apparently if you are the US Government. It has been revealed that Clinton signed off on an order to spy on the top echelon of the UN.

‘Washington also wanted credit card numbers, email addresses, phone, fax and pager numbers and even frequent-flyer account numbers for UN figures and “biographic and biometric information on UN Security Council permanent representatives”.’

HTTP://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-spying-un

an order that is in reality completely illegal -

“ 1946 UN convention on privileges and immunities states: “The premises of the United Nations shall be inviolable. The property and assets of the United Nations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation and any other form of interference, whether by executive, administrative, judicial or legislative action”.’

The question is why would the US Government need all this information could it be to get that which would be needed to threaten?

‘ultimately pushed most of them will choose professional preservation over cause’

The Map speaks of trusting one’s feelings when something is right and when it is wrong, maybe soon our ‘intuition’ will be all we can rely on. There is no doubt there is a battle going on to manipulate the information on and off the net. The power of the net has been shown in the recent Arab world uprisings to be unstoppable, but in the west are we losing freedoms without even noticing it?

 

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埃及, 自由, Democracy and Transparency.

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by Lisa Solonynko

I have been glued to the satellite news channels, Al Jazeera and BBC World News the past eleven days watching the story unfold in Egypt.

I watched as Egyptians took to the streets in a bid for the freedoms we in the west take for granted, I watched Mubarak refuse to step down immediately and warn of the chaos that would happen if he did, I watched as if on cue, 在 ‘chaos’ begin hours after his speech, I watched as the people formed their own groups to police and protect themselves.

I then watched the ‘million’ protester gathering in ‘Freedom Square’ last weekend and saw the joy of an oppressed people happy with their moment of freedom, for while, in Freedom Square, they were safe.

I watched Mubarak make his second speech again warning of the chaos those wanting freedom would create by him stepping down and again as if on cue, hours later the violence erupted.

In horror I watched the armed pro Mubarak supporters charge the unarmed anti Mubarak protesters as the battle for Freedom Square began. I could not see how the unarmed anti Mubarak protesters could survive this onslaught but after a night of fierce battles, many deaths and around a thousand injured the defenders of Freedom Square were victorious, not just in their defence of the Square but in their stand for freedom, their resolve to no longer live in fear.

Yesterday I watched the respect those that had fought and died for be shown by the world in their leaders statements, the reaction of the army to now protect the anti Mubarak protesters and the millions across Egypt that took to the streets for the action called The Day of Departure.

Freedom is a strange thing, it is the ‘thing’ one has before one makes the choices that then limit one’s freedom. Though a good part of this ‘thing’ called freedom is to have the right to make choices free from oppression one has to make choices that could oppress others. We in the west with our democratic governments believe we have rights and freedoms but do we really?

The UK people were taken into war against their will, the Irish people are suffering massive economic hardship against their will, the people of the US are now suffering because of the financial terrorism their economic system supports to keep the fraudulent investment banks in business.

The democracy of free and fair elections is the safety valve that keeps oppression at bay but on its own it gives no one freedom. Democracy needs to be free, fair and transparent.

Wikileaks, has shown many of our western democratic governments to be a little hypocritical when it comes to how they inform their own populations. We the people need to be informed so that we can vote from an informed perspective for the Government we chose and this can only be done if we can all take the last step to freedom and that is having transparent governance.

There have been countless revolutions across out time and world, many if not most have turned into just a different form of oppression, as I continue to helplessly watch the twelfth day Egypt story unfold I wish their bravery is rewarded with their freedom to chose their politics but I would advise that freedom and democracy is only token if those voted into power do not have to be transparent in their dealings with their people and the rest of the world.

Maybe Wikileaks should become a UN institution!

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