Ban The Internet?
by Dr. W. David Currie

Many of you probably grew up watching the nightly news on television, either at 6 or 11 pm.  When we missed the news, we were kept informed by co-workers around the water cooler, or by neighbors across the hedge.  Today, fast and furious news updates appear on the Internet at near minute intervals.  Internet news surfing colleagues at work have become annoying, receiving e-mail alerts within seconds of the release of any important information related to their area of special interest... always shocked that others are unaware of their new found information.  Today I decided that there may be too much information on the Internet.  Do I really want to know that my car is de-valuing faster than I thought and that I paid too much for it in the first place?  Do I really want to know the 10 most likely reasons that my spouse will leave me?  Do I really want to know that George Clooney dies his hair?  Former Czechoslovakian Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus also grumbled that there was already too much information without the Internet (see http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/Slavonic/staff/Klaus.html and note that I said "former" Czech prime minister).

So, on a lark, we decided to check and see if there is anyone out there who wants to get rid of the Internet.  I'm not talking about groups like the U.S. Congress who want to ban Internet gambling (yeah, right... tax it more likely).  I'm not talking about groups like Infoshop.org who post the Internet Hall of Shame (http://www.infoshop.org/censors.html) to alert us against companies using the Internet to obtain information about your spending habits and income... or companies that sell software to spy on us in the workplace.  I'm not talking about the professors who cling tenuously to the tenet that it is impossible to differentiate between good and bad e-information.  And I'm not talking about librarians who are worried about all the future of books of paper.

I'm talking about hard core, hate to see it, want to get rid of it, Internet boycottists.  Remember Edgar Bronfman's passionate tirade against the Internet and the anonymity it afforded Internet users and sellers (see Kurt Nimmo's review at David Icke's Telling the Truth Archives... http://www.davidicke.net/tellthetruth/reststory/bronfmaninternet.html).. now, check out http://www.vowhisky.com... and then tell me Edgar Bronfman doesn't just love the Internet... how does that add go Edgar... "It's what men do?"  A friend mentioned that Israeli rabbis are against the Internet.  Maybe I'm not reading enough into it, but it seems to me that the rabbis are pushing responsible use rather than an "out and out' ban of the Internet... check it out for yourself at http://www.jewishsf.com/bk000121/iinternetban.shtml.  Many people have told me that Jehovah's Witnesses are against the Internet, but after reading it straight from the horse's mouth, I can't believe that either... check it out at http://www.onroad.org.uk/pages/news/infowar.html.

So, is anybody absolutely, positively, really against the Internet.  Well, the former Taliban banned the Internet from Afghanistan, but apparently not because they were philosophically against it.  The Taliban were just concerned about their citizens being exposed to undesirable content... possibly on the very same websites their beneficiaries were using to propagate terrorist messages.  Find related information at http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/12017.html, http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/13119.html and http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_351143.html.  China isn't really anti-Internet... they're just anti-information... the Internet is OK, as long as you are not receiving information from outside of China, and as long as the information you are receiving is monitored by your friendly neighborhood government representative.  Cuba is not specifically opposed to the Internet... although it is illegal to purchase or sell a personal computer or photocopier in Cuba.

In 1998, a number of European countries experienced day long Internet boycotts in which people tried to make phone companies aware of how dependent they were on Internet phone transmission revenue.  This represented a failed attempt to get a number of European phone companies to reduce rates to Internet users.  Internet users in China have tried the same thing with no apparent success.  But the telephone companies and ISP's know that this is similar to the numerous failed attempts to get American drivers to stop driving their cars for one day in protest of gasoline prices... most people just keep on driving.

But is there anybody out there who is really strongly opposed to the Internet and who is not subject to communist or terrorist rule or excessive government censorship?  Jackie Poole explains the appearance of a "ban the Internet" bumper sticker at http://www.varbusiness.com/90cols/column44.asp.  I'm still looking for whoever it is that was driving that car Jackie... haven't seen them around these parts... would love to talk to them... get caught up on the latest news.

Dr. W. David Currie