British Commonwealth Nations Starting Down “Net Nanny” Road

The concerns being voiced by politicians in various countries from Britain to the United States to as far-flung places as Australia all sound the same. They want to protect children from potentially harmful web sites, which they believe could be dangerous to children who happen on them without proper restrictions. Politicians point to the Motion Picture Association of America that currently classifies and categorizes films based on the perceived maturity of the content in order to keep children at arms length. Interestingly, Culture Secretary for Great Britain, Andy Burnham, eagerly awaits the inauguration of Barack Obama to begin a process that would bring about internet censorship for children. What do these two seemingly unrelated events have to do with one another?

Mr Burnham admits that his plans may be interpreted by some as “heavy-handed” but says the new standards drive is “utterly crucial”. Mr Burnham also believes that the inauguration of Barack Obama, the President-Elect, presents an opportunity to implement the major changes necessary for the web.

“The change of administration is a big moment. We have got a real opportunity to make common cause,” he says. “The more we seek international solutions to this stuff – the UK and the US working together – the more that an international norm will set an industry norm.”

But critics in Australia facing the same kind of government interference don’t agree. Just as the Australian internet has been unclogged by unrelated governmental regulations by the incoming Labour Party, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is pushing through an internet filter that will be counter-productive to easing internet congestion.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority conducted tests earlier this year on six filters that could be imposed on internet service providers. Five slowed internet speeds by at least 20 per cent. And two of them crippled speeds by more than 75 per cent.

And this is before we look at their habit of falsely blocking legal sites. A 1999 trial of internet filtering (censoring the internet has long been a bipartisan goal) even accidentally blocked some government websites. Filters have improved since then but, as ACMA’s test revealed, it is a certainty that some sites will be incorrectly blocked — let’s be honest, the technology to efficiently and effectively censor the internet isn’t quite ready yet.

The biggest problem with state interference into the anarchic blissful freedom of the internet is that it is always fraught with the inevitable law of unintended consequences. Why should it be the state’s responsibility to protect us from ourselves? Again? Parents are responsible for providing their children with healthy food alternatives, with limits on television watching, and giving them a sense of limitations and understanding of the world around them through proper guidance. I don’t need the government rating websites for my children, since I can and I will monitor these things on my own. And if I do want to restrict internet access to my children, there are any number of programs that can accomplish the job without slowing down the internet or creating potentially confusing blockages of perfectly legitimate websites.

As with almost everything the government does to “protect us”, this sounds like another road paved to hell with good intentions.

“It Took Every Ounce Of Restraint Not To Rip This Guy’s Face Off”

Stealing is poor form. Stealing during Christmas is even poorer form. Stealing under the pretense of a war veteran during Christmas is probably just about the poorest form:

As an Army Ranger who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, Nick Ford thought there was something suspicious about the man seeking holiday donations for military families at Ford’s local Stop & Shop.

Paul K. Guilmain Jr. told shoppers that he was an Iraq veteran and National Guard member, but to Ford he didn’t look like anyone who’d seen duty in years. The paunchy 44-year-old slouched, went hatless, and wore outdated woodland camouflage fatigues – the kind with the green, black, brown, and beige pattern, not the more modern design. The rank on his sleeve, corporal, didn’t fit with his age.

“It took every ounce of restraint not to rip this guy’s face off,” said Ford, who opted instead for friendliness and a discreet investigation. His sleuthing led to Guilmain’s arrest on Christmas Eve at the Woburn Super Stop & Shop, near Ford’s home.

Guilmain, who lives in Lynn, was arraigned yesterday on charges that he posed as a representative of a national veterans organization and pocketed the money for himself.

[...]

I’m not a religious man, but I feel there must be a special kind of personal hell for people like this.

A Soldier Returns Home

The casket of Pte. Michael Bruce Freeman was loaded onto a military aircraft transport today to return home to Canada to lay the body to rest. Private Freeman was killed yesterday by a roadside bombing that injured three other soldiers. It was his first Afghan tour serving with N Company, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment from CFB Petawawa in Ontario. Friends and brothers and sisters in uniform have expressed their condolences at the Army website, including this touching thought:

My heart weighs heavy for my fallen brother and his loved ones. I won’t mourn you too hard Brother, knowing that your death, while not predicable, is justified amongst those whom your soul was destined to protect. May peace be upon you and your loved ones. You and yours, my foremost thoughts in my mind tonight as I sit grateful for the gift of holding my own close to me.

Present at the Kandahar air field for the send-off was Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who joined Canadian troops at the ramp ceremony and showed his support for the soldiers who remain behind. Peter MacKay has been visiting regions of Kandahar held by Canadian Forces, visiting soldiers at several forwarding operating bases, travelling by helicopter. At each stop the Defence Minister asked troops about combat and offered encouragement and thanks:

“You’re here doing incredibly important work on behalf of all of us and for that we are eternally grateful,” MacKay said to one group.

Say what you will about Mr.MacKay [and I certainly have], but here’s a man who is in Afghanistan on Christmas, the first Defence Minister to attend a ramp ceremony, travelling around to offer morale to troops who know that the mission has a finite date. He has nothing to sell the the soldiers there, except for comfort during times when they might miss home the most. A class act all the way.