No room for Internet censorship in a democracy

"There's no room for Internet censorship in a democracy. The EU should impose Internet censorship."

In other words, the EU should not be considered a democracy. This might not be what Folkpartiet politician Cecilia Wikström meant to say, but it's the message she's communicating in this letter, where she promotes Internet censorship as a means of fighting child pornography despite of her own reasoning that censorship will have little or no effect. That's like saying "we know banning action films from TV won't stop the violence, but we still want to do it". Why?

What's with these Folkpartiet Cecilias who are hellbent on Internet censorship without being able to present any credible argument that it is in fact a good idea? Stop hiding behind the ridiculous "think about the children" tactics and just come out and tell us who's paying you to stick to a stance that you don't even believe in.

The alternatives to Internet censorship have been discussed a million times before, so I won't go into details, but keywords are due process, shutting down and prosecute the offenders if they're found guilty. That's the way of a democracy.

Photo: Wikimedia.

Politicians against freedom

This is (according to Europaportalen) the shameful list of MEP's who voted for the infamous Smile29 declaration in the European Parliament. This is a list of individuals who want to crush your right to privacy completely by making it impossible to surf the web anonymously. That's the entire purpose of this utterly revolting declaration, according to its creator, Tiziano Motti.

Shame on you, haters of freedom and democracy.


Konservativa EPP (198)
Janos Ader, Ungern
Gabriele Albertini, Italien
Magdi Cristiano Allam, Italien
Laima Liucija Andrikiene, Litauen
Roberta Angelilli, Italien
Antonella Antinoro, Italien
Elena Oana Antonescu, Rumänien
Alfredo Antoniozzi, Italien
Pablo Arias Echeverría, Spanien
Sophie Auconie, Frankrike
Jean-Pierre Audy, Frankrike
Pilar Ayuso, Spanien
Georges Bach, Luxemburg
Raffaele Baldassarre, Italien
Burkhard Balz, Tyskland
Paolo Bartolozzi, Italien
Elena Băsescu, Rumänien
Regina Bastos, Portugal
Edit Bauer, Slovakien
Christophe Béchu, Frankrike
Sergio Berlato, Italien
Sebastian Valentin Bodu, Rumänien
Vito Bonsignore, Italien
Piotr Borys, Polen
Jan Březina, Tjeckien
Simon Busuttil, Malta
Alain Cadec, Frankrike
Wim van de Camp, Nederländerna
Antonio Cancian, Italien
Maria Da Graça Carvalho, Portugal
David Casa, Malta
Carlo Casini, Italien
Pilar del Castillo Vera, Spanien
Giovanni Collino, Italien
Lara Comi, Italien
Michel Dantin, Frankrike
Joseph Daul, Frankrike
Mário David, Portugal
Anne Delvaux, Belgien
Luigi Ciriaco De Mita, Italien
Albert Deß, Tyskland
Tamás Deutsch, Ungern
Agustín Díaz de Mera García Consuegra, Spanien
Herbert Dorfmann, Italien
Frank Engel, Luxemburg
Sari Essayah, Finland
Rosa Estaràs Ferragut, Spanien
Diogo Feio, Portugal
José Manuel Fernandes, Portugal
Carlo Fidanza, Italien
Santiago Fisas Ayxela, Spanien
Karl-Heinz Florenz, Tyskland
Carmen Fraga Estévez, Spanien
Gaston Franco, Frankrike
Michael Gahler, Tyskland
Kinga Gál, Ungern
José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil, Spanien
Elisabetta Gardini, Italien
Salvador Garriga Polledo, Spanien
Jean-Paul Gauzès, Frankrike
Marietta Giannakou, Grekland
Luis de Grandes Pascual, Spanien
Mathieu Grosch, Belgien
Françoise Grossetête, Frankrike
Pascale Gruny, Frankrike
Andrzej Grzyb, Polen
Cristina Gutiérrez-Cortines, Spanien
Enikő Győri, Ungern
András Gyürk, Ungern
Małgorzata Handzlik, Polen
Ágnes Hankiss, Ungern
Esther Herranz García, Spanien
Jolanta Emilia Hibner, Polen
Jim Higgins, Irland
Monika Hohlmeier, Tyskland
Danuta Maria Hübner, Polen
Salvatore Iacolino, Italien
Ville Itälä, Finland
Carlos José Iturgaiz Angulo, Spanien
Iliana Ivanova, Bulgarien
Peter Jahr, Tyskland
Lívia Járóka, Ungern
Sidonia Elżbieta Jędrzejewska, Polen
Elisabeth Jeggle, Tyskland
Filip Kaczmarek, Polen
Jarosław Kalinowski, Polen
Sandra Kalniete, Lettland
Othmar Karas, Österrike
Ioannis Kasoulides, Cypern
Martin Kastler, Tyskland
Tunne Kelam, Estland
Dieter-Lebrecht Koch, Tyskland
Lena Kolarska-Bobińska, Polen
Eija-Riitta Korhola, Finland
Ádám Kósa, Ungern
Georgios Koumoutsakos, Grekland
Andrey Kovatchev, Bulgarien
Jan Kozłowski, Polen
Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou, Grekland
Werner Kuhn, Tyskland
Eduard Kukan, Slovakien
Alain Lamassoure, Frankrike
Vytautas Landsbergis, Litauen
Giovanni La Via, Italien
Constance Le Grip, Frankrike
Peter Liese, Tyskland
Krzysztof Lisek, Polen
Veronica Lope Fontagné, Spanien
Antonio López-Istúriz White, Spanien
Petru Constantin Luhan, Rumänien
Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska, Polen
Astrid Lulling, Luxemburg
Monica Luisa Macovei, Rumänien
Bogdan Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Polen
Marian-Jean Marinescu, Rumänien
Clemente Mastella, Italien
Barbara Matera, Italien
Gabriel Mato Adrover, Spanien
Iosif Matula, Rumänien
Mario Mauro, Italien
Hans-Peter Mayer, Tyskland
Jaime Mayor Oreja, Spanien
Erminia Mazzoni, Italien
Nuno Melo, Portugal
Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, Spanien
Alajos Mészáros, Slovakien
Miroslav Mikolášik, Slovakien
Francisco José Millán Mon, Spanien
Gay Mitchell, Irland
Elisabeth Morin-Chartier, Frankrike
Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, Litauen
Tiziano Motti, Italien
Cristiana Muscardini, Italien
Mariya Nedelcheva, Bulgarien
Rareş-Lucian Niculescu, Rumänien
Angelika Niebler, Tyskland
Lambert van Nistelrooij, Nederländerna
Jan Olbrycht, Polen
Csaba Őry, Ungern
Alfredo Pallone, Italien
Georgios Papastamkos, Grekland
Maria do Céu Patrão Neves, Portugal
Aldo Patriciello, Italien
Alojz Peterle, Slovenien
Markus Pieper, Tyskland
Bernd Posselt, Tyskland
Hans-Gert Pöttering, Tyskland
Konstantinos Poupakis, Grekland
Jacek Protasiewicz, Polen
Hella Ranner, Österrike
Herbert Reul, Tyskland
Dominique Riquet, Frankrike
Crescenzio Rivellini, Italien
Zuzana Roithová, Tjeckien
Licia Ronzulli, Italien
Paul Rübig, Österrike
José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra, Spanien
Potito Salatto, Italien
Marie-Thérèse Sanchez-Schmid, Frankrike
Amalia Sartori, Italien
Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, Polen
Algirdas Saudargas, Litauen
Marco Scurria, Italien
Czesław Adam Siekierski, Polen
Sergio Paolo Francesco Silvestris, Italien
Csaba Sógor, Rumänien
Renate Sommer, Tyskland
Bogusław Sonik, Polen
Catherine Soullie, Frankrike
Peter Šťastný, Slovakien
Theodor Dumitru Stolojan, Rumänien
Emil Stoyanov, Bulgarien
Michèle Striffler, Frankrike
László Surján, Ungern
Alf Svensson, Sverige
József Szájer, Ungern
Salvatore Tatarella, Italien
Nuno Teixeira, Portugal
Eleni Theocharous, Cypern
Róża Gräfin von Thun und Hohenstein, Polen
Marianne Thyssen, Belgien
László Tőkés, Rumänien
Rafał Trzaskowski, Polen
Traian Ungureanu, Rumänien
Vladimir Urutchev, Bulgarien
Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Spanien
Jarosław Leszek Wałęsa, Polen
Manfred Weber, Tyskland
Anja Weisgerber, Tyskland
Iuliu Winkler, Rumänien
Corien Wortmann-Kool, Nederländerna
Anna Záborská, Slovakien
Pablo Zalba Bidegain, Spanien
Paweł Zalewski, Polen
Iva Zanicchi, Italien
Artur Zasada, Polen
Milan Zver, Slovenien
Tadeusz Zwiefka, Polen

Socialdemokratiska S&D (60)
Magdalena Alvarez, Spanien
Luis Paulo Alves, Portugal
Francesca Balzani, Italien
Luigi Berlinguer, Italien
Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Litauen
Rita Borsellino, Italien
Victor Boştinaru, Rumänien
Salvatore Caronna, Italien
Alejandro Cercas, Spanien
Sergio Gaetano Cofferati, Italien
Silvia Costa, Italien
Rosario Crocetta, Italien
Francesco De Angelis, Italien
Paolo De Castro, Italien
Robert Dušek, Tjeckien
Edite Estrela, Portugal
Richard Falbr, Tjeckien
Elisa Ferreira, Portugal
Monika Flašíková Beňová, Slovakien
Iratxe García Pérez, Spanien
Eider Gardiazábal Rubial, Spanien
Louis Grech, Malta
Zita Gurmai, Ungern
Jiří Havel, Tjeckien
Edit Herczog, Ungern
Ramón Jáuregui Atondo, Spanien
Maria Eleni Koppa, Grekland
Stéphane Le Foll, Frankrike
Jo Leinen, Tyskland
Bogusław Liberadzki, Polen
Antonio Masip Hidalgo, Spanien
Guido Milana, Italien
Katarína Neveďalová, Slovakien
Justas Vincas Paleckis, Litauen
Pier Antonio Panzeri, Italien
Antigoni Papadopoulou, Cypern
Mario Pirillo, Italien
Gianni Pittella, Italien
Vittorio Prodi, Italien
Teresa Riera Madurell, Spanien
Edward Scicluna, Malta
Olga Sehnalová, Tjeckien
Joanna Senyszyn, Polen
Debora Serracchiani, Italien
Adrian Severin, Rumänien
Peter Simon, Tyskland
Brian Simpson, Storbritannien
Monika Smolková, Slovakien
Georgios Stavrakakis, Grekland
Gianluca Susta, Italien
Hannes Swoboda, Österrike
Csaba Sándor Tabajdi, Ungern
Zoran Thaler, Slovenien
Patrice Tirolien, Frankrike
Patrizia Toia, Italien
Kathleen Van Brempt, Belgien
Derek Vaughan, Storbritannien
Kristian Vigenin, Bulgarien
Henri Weber, Frankrike
Janusz Władysław Zemke, Polen

Liberala Alde (32)
Liam Aylward, Irland
Catherine Bearder, Storbritannien
Cristian Silviu Buşoi, Rumänien
Chris Davies, Storbritannien
Luigi de Magistris, Italien
Marielle De Sarnez, Frankrike
Pat the Cope Gallagher, Irland
Nathalie Griesbeck, Frankrike
Marian Harkin, Irland
Filiz Hakaeva Hyusmenova, Bulgarien
Stanimir Ilchev, Bulgarien
Vincenzo Iovine, Italien
Metin Kazak, Bulgarien
Wolf Klinz, Tyskland
Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Tyskland
Ramona Nicole Mănescu, Rumänien
Gesine Meissner, Tyskland
Louis Michel, Belgien
Norica Nicolai, Rumänien
Kristiina Ojuland, Estland
Siiri Oviir, Estland
Vladko Todorov Panayotov, Bulgarien
Antonyia Parvanova, Bulgarien
Frédérique Ries, Belgien
Niccolò Rinaldi, Italien
Hannu Takkula, Finland
Michael Theurer, Tyskland
Ramon Tremosa i Balcells, Spanien
Giommaria Uggias, Italien
Viktor Uspaskich, Litauen
Adina-Ioana Vălean, Rumänien
Gianni Vattimo, Italien

De Gröna (5)
Francois Alfonsi, Frankrike
Malika Benarab-Attou, Frankrike
Michèle Rivasi, Frankrike
Werner Schulz, Tyskland
Michail Tremopoulos, Grekland

ECR (30)
Robert Atkins, Storbritannien
Adam Bielan, Polen
Lajos Bokros, Ungern
Tadeusz Cymański, Polen
Ryszard Czarnecki, Polen
Peter van Dalen, Nederländerna
Nirj Deva, Storbritannien
Derk Jan Eppink, Belgien
Hynek Fajmon, Tjeckien
Jacqueline Foster, Storbritannien
Marek Józef Gróbarczyk, Polen
Malcolm Harbour, Storbritannien
Michał Tomasz Kamiński, Polen
Sajjad Karim, Storbritannien
Jacek Olgierd Kurski, Polen
Emma McClarkin, Storbritannien
Marek Henryk Migalski, Polen
Miroslav Ouzký, Tjeckien
Mirosław Piotrowski, Polen
Tomasz Piotr Poręba, Polen
Struan Stevenson, Storbritannien
Ivo Strejček, Tjeckien
Konrad Szymański, Polen
Charles Tannock, Storbritannien
Valdemar Tomaševski, Litauen
Oldřich Vlasák, Tjeckien
Jacek Włosowicz, Polen
Janusz Wojciechowski, Polen
Roberts Zīle, Lettland
Zbigniew Ziobro, Polen

Vänstern GUE/NGL (14)
Lothar Bisky, Tyskland
Cornelia Ernst, Tyskland
Takis Hadjigeorgiou, Cypern
Jacky Hénin, Frankrike
Elie Hoarau, Frankrike
Jürgen Klute, Tyskland
Jaromír Kohlíček, Tjeckien
Jiří Maštálka, Tjeckien
Marisa Matias, Portugal
Willy Meyer, Spanien
Miloslav Ransdorf, Tjeckien
Vladimír Remek, Tjeckien
Helmut Scholz, Tyskland
Kyriacos Triantaphyllides, Cypern

EFD (14)
Bastiaan Belder, Nederländerna
Mara Bizzotto, Italien
Mario Borghezio, Italien
John Bufton, Storbritannien
Lorenzo Fontana, Italien
Claudio Morganti, Italien
Jaroslav Paška, Slovakien
Fiorello Provera, Italien
Oreste Rossi Italien
Nikolaos Salavrakos, Grekland
Giancarlo Scottà, Italien
Timo Soini, Finland
Francesco Enrico Speroni, Italien
Niki Tzavela, Grekland

Grupplösa (18)
George Becali, Rumänien
Slavi Binev, Bulgarien
Andrew Henry William Brons, Storbritannien
Philip Claeys, Belgien
Diane Dodds, Storbritannien
Bruno Gollnisch, Frankrike
Nick Griffin, Storbritannien
Jean-Marie Le Pen, Frankrike
Marine Le Pen, Frankrike
Krisztina Morvai, Ungern
Mike Nattrass, Storbritannien
Franz Obermayr, Österrike
Nicole Sinclaire, Storbritannien
Francisco Sosa Wagner, Spanien
Csanád Szegedi, Ungern
Claudiu Ciprian Tănăsescu, Rumänien
Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Rumänien
Frank Vanhecke, Belgien

Cleanternet

Offering some "support" to EU commissioner Cecilia Malmström, a firm believer in censorship and the useful idiot of the entertainment mafia:


Found on idg.se

A taste of what is to come

The Americans got a little taste of what is to come in the near future when due to a DNS error they ended up behind China's "Great Firewall". This meant websites with inappropriate content were blocked.

Personally I don't understand what the fuzz is all about. I mean, they better get used to it as both the US and the EU are planning to incorporate similar Internet filtering, where the governments will be able to decide what information their citizens should be allowed to part-take in, and what should be considered "inappropriate" and blocked.

If all goes according to plan, the EU will join the likes of Iran, North Korea, Australia and China by 2012, with the US probably not far behind. Congratulations, you miserable enemies of freedom.

Limo madness

The Swedish taxpayers paid 3,5 million kronor to transport the fat, lazy delegates to the EU European Development Days 2009 in Stockholm in limos to and from the airport.

Unfortunately that's just pocket change compared to the costs of closing down E4 repeatedly during those days just so these overpaid bastards could get their fat asses to the conference without any interference from other traffic. Way to throw taxpayers money out the window and annoy the hell out of them.

My personal favorite was the Stockholm police refusing to let motorists know exactly at what time they would close E4, "for security reasons". More like "for annoyance reasons" if you ask me. How could knowing the closure time and therefore avoiding complete chaos be a threat to security? If I wanted to blow up one of these pompous bastards I wouldn't abandon the plan just because I didn't get the exact time for when this stupid idiot would show up in his limo, would I?

My God, the stupidity...

Democracy the EU way

Found this little clip on Youtube that shows how the EU democracy works: "The voters are stupid and don't know their own good. That's why we'll completly disregard them and do whatever we want anyway. There's too much political prestige in this to respect the democracy". Way to tell them, Wallström!

Iran is a role model for Europe

Nokia Siemens Network have built Internet infrastructure for the Iranian government, and as a part of this project they have implemented sophisticated ways to monitor the network, allowing the government to save and index information on individual users and their communication.

I'm guessing the Swedish government, and all of EU for that matter, is all ears. Perhaps they could arrange a seminar and exchange information and experiences on Internet censorship and surveillance, and get some good ideas on how to further tighten the screw on innocent citizens? Hey, while you're at it, invite China as well, they might have some valuable input. After all these two beacons of democracy seem to be the ideal for European politicians these days.

This is why

If anyone is still wondering why Piratpartiet, The Pirate Party, got 7,1 percent of the votes in this weekend's EU elections, and why they are so desperately needed in the EU, here's your answer. And here.

The well established political parties are simply too stupid, ignorant and/or well paid by the entertainment industry (who spend 900 million SEK a year "lobbying" and suing dead grandmothers and bullying minors instead of developing new and sustainable business models) to care about the fact that the bills they're passing are colliding heads on with basic rights that we're used to in this part of the world, at least after the fall of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, and that many, thank God, refuse to give up without a fight.

My guess is that England and France will have their own pirate parties, or civil liberty parties if you will, taking several seats in the EU parliament after the next election, and working for the basic rights and liberties that the old parties are dismantling in an absolutely unbelievable attempt to increase the profit of an industry unwilling to adapt to the modern times.

Congratulation, pirates

Piratpartiet, the Pirate Party, was last nights sensation with 7,1 percent of the votes in the EU parliament election, giving them one seat in the parliament and giving the more established parties a well deserved slap in the face for not doing their homework (or, rather, doing the entertainment industry's homework - to the letter!) when it comes to issues on privacy, integrity, human- and citizens rights. To be honest I'm surprised that only 7,1 percent of the 43% that actually voted found that these basic rights are more important than employment and welfare issues, subsidies for EU-farmers, the size of a cucumber or anything else for that matter. After all, who bloody cares if they've got a job or not as long as basic human and citizens rights have been taken away from them, one by one?

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Shockingly, the Pirate Party is the only political party in Sweden who want to uphold this article of the UN human rights declaration.

Unfortunately, CNN have - as usual - left a lot to desire in their research, and claim that the Pirate Party are all about legalizing sharing of copyrighted material. I can imagine the election result is quite a surprise for CNN if they really believe a political party could get 7,1 percent of the votes based only on the fact that people want to continue sharing music...

Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt also seems to have problems grasping what this is all about, but agrees to listen to some of his (many) critics:

-Jag ska lyssna på vad Niklas Wykman säger för vi vill vara ett parti som tar frågan om integritet på allvar.

Riiiight, something about not criminalizing an entire generation now, wasn't it? That turned out pretty well. But, of course, you won't hear any real self-criticism from the prime minister:

-Vi ska komma ihåg att Moderaterna är ett regeringsparti. Vi kommer inte att gå till väljarna med enfrågeresonemang och populistiska utgångspunkter, säger Reinfeldt.

You know you're a hardcore politician, and completely out of touch with reality, when you turn questions of important human and citizens rights into "silly, populist reasoning that has no place in a government party". What a pompous ass.

Garbage

I'm sick and tired of various political parties polluting my community with posters showing the ugly mugs of their candidates to the EU parliament, surprisingly enough posing with other party members who are not at all running for the EU parliament, as the example picture of two Socialist Democrats show (Mona Sahlin, for instance, is not a candidate to the EU parliament, and God only knows what she's doing in the picture).

Their ugly mugs are accompanied by stupid slogans that mean absolutely nothing: "Injustice is not the way" (obviously not, but I don't see your party trying to do anything about that), "We prioritize work" (well, yeah, there are very few political parties out there who prioritize unemployment benefits...) and so on. They obviously think the voters are complete morons.

I've got the following question: Why do the political parties feel the need to invade our community with garbage like this? Will they come and remove this garbage after the election? And doesn't Mona Sahlin look remarkably like Beavis?