THE FIGHT OVER US INTERNET CONTROL PROMISES TO TAKE CENTER STAGE.

FPF - Nov. 13th - 2007 - Another example of the real power of Internet bloggers and other users was given by the action to raise funds for congressman Ron Paul, as campaign headquarters reported in a press release: "Arlington - Virginia - Republican presidential candidate and Texas congressman Ron Paul made US electoral history yesterday with an unprecedented single-day fundraising haul. In 24 hours, 36,672 unique donors contributed over $4 million online, and over 200,000 off-line, for more than $4.2 million to win the 2008 Republican presidential nomination."*

To curb this growing power which can be dangerous war and profit mongers, hundreds of $millions are permanently used to 'sell' war propaganda and keep brainwashing people everywhere. Like the US/UK propaganda machine is doing now, shoving the upcoming war madness with Iran - and whatever the global and negative consequences for humanity are - down the throats of the populace the traitors can reach.*

And to track down people who don't like the genocidal policy of the US/UK junta and its war machine - killing people everywhere for power and profit - a consortium of major universities in the United States last year joined the US media Gestapo in tracking down foreign dissidents in the for the US/UK negative overseas press. The US propaganda paper International Herald Tribune even had a rare article about it, in October last year, and outside of the US.* The program works now, by the way.

US UNIVERSITIES: NEGATIVE MEDIA TRACK DOWN

Excerpt: ''A consortium of major universities, with Homeland Security Department funds, is developing software that would let the government monitor negative opinions of the United States or its leaders in newspapers and other publications overseas. The "sentiment analysis" is intended to identify potential threats to the nation, security officials said.

Researchers at institutions including Cornell, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Utah intend to test the system on hundreds of articles published in 2001 and 2002 on topics like President George W. Bush's use of the term "axis of evil," the handling of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, the debate over global warming and the coup attempt against President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. A $2.4 million grant will finance the research over three years.

American officials have long relied on newspapers and other news sources to track events and opinions here and abroad, a goal that has included the routine translation of articles from many foreign publications and news services.

The software would allow much more rapid and comprehensive monitoring of the global news media, as the Homeland Security Department and, perhaps, intelligence agencies look "to identify common patterns from numerous sources of information which might be indicative of potential threats to the nation," a statement by the department said." [The thought police - Chertoff's and Cheney's media Gestapo -  http://tinyurl.com/2ka2cb]

The tsunami of propaganda in all US/UK junta's countries is permanent, and it's no wonder many in leading and profiteering positions are afraid information on Internet puts an end to their lies. That people start finding out who did what, to whom, where, why, and what for...

Among many other Internet items, like censorship by so called 'webstripping', and according to an article in the McClatchy newspapers: "Internet control by U.S. promises to be hot topic at U.N. forum. The story is written by Jack Chang from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil: "When hundreds of technology experts from around the world gather here this week to hammer out the future of the Internet, the hottest issue won't be spam, phishing or any of the other phenomena that bedevil users everywhere.

ENDING U.S. CONTROL

Instead, ending U.S. control over what's become a global network will be at the top of the agenda for many of the more than 2,000 participants expected at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum, which begins Monday. [Nov. 12 - 2007 - HR] - With the Internet now dominating nearly every aspect of modern life, U.S. control of the medium has become a sensitive topic worldwide. In nations that try to control what people can see and hear, the Internet often is the only source of uncensored news and opinion.

U.S. officials say that keeping Internet functions under their control has protected that free flow of information. - [This is one of the worst lies I've heard lately, the contrary is the case. - HR]

UNDER THE CONTROL OF ONE COUNTRY

Yet to many foreign-government officials and technology gurus, the United States has too much control over a tool that's used by more than 1.4 billion people worldwide. Brazil, China and other countries have proposed transferring oversight to an international body. "The Internet has become an everyday instrument of particular importance for the entire world, yet it's still under the control of one country," said Rogerio Santanna, Brazil's secretary of logistics and information technology.

Others worry, however, that transferring the administration of the Internet to the United Nations or another international body would make it vulnerable to censorship, especially by powerful countries such as China.

[Internet should be administered by neutral people from different countries. NO money, NO politics, NO religion. Never should Internet be 'managed' by the US's United Nations or similar totally corrupted institutions. - HR]

The most dramatic example of Internet censorship happened recently in Myanmar, when the ruling military junta cut Internet connections to stop dissident blogs and other sites that had distributed information about government repression during September's crushed pro-democracy protests.

China [like the US* - HR] is routinely criticized for its censorship policies and its use of information gleaned from Internet providers to crack down on dissidents. Even Brazil has inspired Internet privacy debates by demanding that U.S. technology giant Google hand over information about users who are suspected of posting child pornography and other offensive material on its social-networking site Orkut.

[Check who owns all servers and major 'search machines' like Google etc. And look who owns Wikipedia for instance. It is the same money mafia, the US/UK's international banking cartel, running the wars and the major media. - HR]

INTERNET: ITS USEFULNESS AS A VEHICLE FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CRIPPLED

"Should the U.N. gain control of the Internet," the conservative U.S. research center the Heritage Foundation wrote on its Web site, "it would give meddlesome governments the opportunity to censor and regulate the medium until its usefulness as a vehicle for freedom of expression and international competition is crippled."

Such debates have dominated technology circles for years and are the spark for this week's meeting, the second of five such global forums organized by the United Nations. The Brazil forum will feature panels on other key issues such as blocking online child pornography, expanding Internet access in less developed countries and an array of technical matters.

YET THE FIGHT OVER U.S. CONTROL PROMISES TO TAKE CENTER STAGE.

The forum, which was organized partly as a response to international debate about the issue, can't make binding decisions, but it can lay the foundation for policy changes. At the heart of the controversy is a nonprofit company based in Marina del Rey, Calif., called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which the U.S. government has contracted to help it manage key Internet functions. Those include regulating Web sites with popular domain names such as .com and .org and creating new top-level domain names.

CRITICS SAY THE ARRANGEMENT MAKES INTERNATIONALLY POPULAR WEB SITES SUBJECT TO U.S. POLICY ON EVERYTHING FROM USER PRIVACY TO OBSCENITY.

Through ICANN, the United States also assigns Internet protocol addresses, which identify computers, routers and other electronic devices worldwide.

U.S. GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ALSO ARGUE THAT KEEPING THE INTERNET UNDER CENTRALIZED CONTROL IS BEST FOR USERS. - [Which users? - This is absolute crap - HR]

But for many critics of the ICANN system, the main problem is the organization's perceived lack of transparency. They say ICANN shuts out the public when it makes key decisions, such as when it nominates board members, and lacks accountability to the Internet users it serves. "We feel there would be a very healthy check and balances if there was something independent of the United States and ICANN to oversee the system," said Syracuse University professor Milton Mueller, who's part of the academic policy group the Internet Governance Project.

"AS LONG AS THE UNITED STATES HOLDS ON TO ITS CONTROL, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SYSTEM'S TRANSPARENCY."

For Santanna, however, the need for change has been clear in the dispute with Google, which could make news while the U.N. forum is under way. Google has said it can't meet Brazil's demands for user information because its servers are in the United States and are subject to U.S. privacy laws. After months of dispute, both sides will meet this week in an attempt to reach agreement. Santanna said the long dispute could have been avoided if there'd been an international body that, in addition to managing the system's technical functions, could resolve such cross-border controversies.

[end item] - Source: 2007 The Seattle Times - Url.:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004007171_internet11.html

FPF CONCLUSION: INTERNET SHOULD NEVER BE CONTROLLED BY THE US/UK, THEIR UNITED NATIONS OR SIMILARLY CORRUPTED INSTITUTIONS OR GROUPS. TRANSPARENCY AND RESPONSIBILITY ARE NEEDED: NO CENSORSHIP!

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FPF - Related links:

FREEDOM OF SPEECH is often regarded as an integral concept in modern liberal democracies, where it is understood to outlaw censorship. The right to freedom of speech is guaranteed under international law through numerous human rights instruments, notably under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

* RON PAUL PRESS RELEASE - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/yw3u5z

* CHENEY ORDERS MEDIA TO 'SELL' ATTACK ON IRAN - Url.:
 http://www.infowars.com/articles/ww3/iran_cheney_orders_media_sell_iran_attack.htm

* SPECIAL US/UK JUNTA COMPUTER-PROGRAMS TO CENSOR - Url.:  http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/04/news/scan.php

* ''CONTROLLING'' BLOGS - Url.:   http://wildpower.blogspot.com/2006/06/justice-department-is-asking-internet.html

* COMPLIANT MEDIA - HITLER: AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN? - Url.:   http://tinyurl.com/3eepa

* US CONTROL: WHY U.S. AMERICANS (AND MANY IN OTHER COUNTRIES) WILL BELIEVE ALMOST ANYTHING THEIR 'GOVERNMENT' AND PROPAGANDA MEDIA TELL THEM - Url.:  http://www.rense.com/general78/believe.htm

* THE US IS A 'CRIMOCRACY' - Christopher Bollyn: "This is how the U.S. government, which I call a "crimocracy" works. - Url.:  http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=110673

* IT'S DANGEROUS TO BE RIGHT, WHEN YOUR GOVERNMENT IS WRONG. - VOLTAIRE

* FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 - any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information. Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/3z3r6

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Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
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