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Lawrence Lessig predicting that the US government will use the pretext of an “Internet 9/11” to clamp down on the freedom of the network (the following is my own incomplete transcript):

“I had dinner once with with Richard [?] … and I said to him, is there an equivalent, is there a ‘Patriot Act’ or an ‘i-Patriot Act’ just sitting waiting for some substantial event that will become an excuse for radically changing the way the Internet works? And he said, ‘Of course there is!’ and I swear that this is what he said, and I quote, ‘And Vint Cerf is not going to like it very much’. So this is the big terror, right? They’re just sitting waiting for the invevitable to happen, and then SLAM!”

Source video

It’s even more alarming given the information in the first half of the clip about how the Patriot Act was conceived and introduced. This is Lawrence Lessig, a Professor of Law at Harvard, not some hysterical conspiracy nut. We’ve been warned people!

If you have any attachment whatsoever to the rule of reason, to the notion of humanistic individual rights and to the essential equality of men and women, then you really need to read this post. There exists the very real possibility that the concept of “defamation of religions” becomes an international legal norm. Write to your MP, join an organization that defends secular principles (here’s one I recently joined), agitate, demonstrate on the streets, write a blog post (it’ll be indexed by Google, at least), do whatever you can. This is a grave matter and the process is occurring now, not “might occur”, it is occurring, and as the quotes in the post linked to point out, has been for the last 10 years or so, with minimal opposition so far. Don’t be a frog in the boiling pot and then merely shrug when it becomes fait accompli, do something now to make your voice heard.

This matter has serious ramifications for those who do not want the rules that govern their lives to be dictated by theocrats and superstitious belief. As Ophelia Benson remarks:

If the right to free speech can be trumped by a subjective perception of insult, then there is no right to free speech. That’s it. All over.

(I don’t like writing such strident posts, but this is important, isn’t it?)

Following the discovery that Comcast has been interferring with its customers’ ability to download torrents over its network, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has released the Switzerland packet testing tool to enable you to check to see if your ISP appears to be forging packets with the intent of interferring with your ability to share files.

I’ve been running Switzerland this afternoon (the client, not the country), and after exchanging many thousands of packets with other clients on the Switzerland network, the EFF server found no evidence of foul play (well, three malformed packets, but Switzerland reported that these were most likely re-written by my NAT router).

The major UK ISPs have only recently signed their memorandum of understanding with the BPI and the government, and it is not yet clear whether or not they will be attempting Comcast-style interferrence. BT has been contacting us like crazy recently trying to persuade us to move to a different broadband deal, something which will no doubt include a new contract and terms and conditions. It might be interesting to see how those T&Cs differ from our existing set, perhaps containing some kind of opt-out or loopholes to tacitly allow traffic monitoring and bandwidth restriction. Next time they phone, I’ll ask to see a copy before I’ll be prepared to discuss any change to our existing contract with their sales-people.

I will be running tests with Switzerland on a regular basis to keep a check on BT.

PS.

• In addition to core Python, you’ll need python-scapy and psycop, plus a running NTP daemon (all just a Synaptic away on Ubuntu) or Switzerland will moan.
• You’ll need to sudo mkdir /var/log/switzerland-pcaps
• You’ll need to ensure your firewall doesn’t interfere with the testing
• I had to re-start Switzerland several times before it was happy that my computer’s time settings were in accordance with those of my timeserver (but hey, this is version 0.0).

Additional links:

EFF “Switzerland” packet monitor tool looks for ISP meddling

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UPDATE: In the light of the following article the above is probably largely academic:- BT slams bandwidth brakes on all subscribers. BT don’t need to re-write packets, they simply block the packets they don’t like. This probably explains why my torrent download speeds were around eight to nine times slower than those of HTTP the other night. Zen Internet seems to be getting a good press. I’ve seen user reports claiming that it has no Phorm nonsense, doesn’t discriminate against non-HTTP and non-email traffic, and has good tech support. Sounds like a real Internet Service Provider to me. They do have monthly bandwidth caps, but they’re completely open about them and as far as I’m concerned, caps are a practical matter, not an ethical one. As things stand now, I’m looking to move to Zen, unless I can find an even better deal.

Turning the tables on unsolicited commercial callers, in style.