144 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
144 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
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********************
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Roadblocks on the Super-Information Highway
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from Workers Solidarity No 45
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(1995)
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In the last issue of Workers Solidarity we mentioned
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the anarchist electronic library Spunk Press. Some of
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our readers may have seen it mentioned since in the
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Sunday Times (British) as part of a complicated
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conspiracy theory which attempted to link it to
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everything from drug making to school riots to bank-
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robbing to "outlawed loyalist paramilitary groups"!!
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The same weekend a computer bulletin board was raided
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in Italy and the administrators of it charged with
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"association with intent to subvert the democratic
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order". This is a charge which carries a penalty for
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those convicted of 7 to 15 years imprisonment. More
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recently articles in the US media and a paper
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published by the Rand institute have warned of the
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danger of the internet making Mexico ungovernable
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through 'netwar'. Essentially this refers to the
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posting of EZLN communiquŽs and the organisation of
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anti-repression demonstrations through mailing lists.
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Anarchists are aware that capitalism will not allow
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'freedom of information' in any real sense. The mass
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media is all state owned or owned by wealthy
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corporations. Its primary role is not to tell us
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about the world we live in but rather to "manufacture
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consent" (defining the limits of 'legitimate' debate).
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As long as access to the internet was confined to a
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narrow layer of academics and students, freedom of
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expression was permitted. But now that it starts to
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become a mass medium of communication the state is
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seeking to impose limits on this expression.
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In order to do so, it is trying to label those it
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wishes to silence as 'terrorists'. That is the
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purpose of all the events listed above. A month after
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the Italian raids the material seized was returned.
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In a press release Luc Pac, one of those charged,
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pointed out "The complete restitution of the material
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seized suggests that nothing useful was found amongst
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it that might confirm the charges laid out in the
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authorities' original warrants. In any case, the three
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magistrates who ordered the raids have been unable to
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find the time to meet with us over the past 23 days;
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similarly, the Carabinieri (Police) who actually
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returned the seized goods refused to answer any
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questions concerning the enquiry or its future
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course."
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Effector on-line, a publication of the Electronic
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Frontier Foundation [the EFF is a 'highly respected'
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lobbying body supported by many parts of the computer
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industry] describes the attacks on Spunk Press as
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"replete with errors and remarkably
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biased...Additionally it makes many wild and highly
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unrealistic accusations of global anarchist
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conspiracy. No relevant evidence or sources are
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cited." Many of those involved with Spunk Press
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suspect that the ultimate 'source' of this article is
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MI5, desperately seeking a justification for their
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funding now that the Cold War is over.
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What is being attacked is the threat of effective
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opposition to state repression. The attacks on the
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mailing lists carrying EZLN communiquŽs prompted a
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debate on the internet as to whether it was really
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that effective or was is just a lot of "alienated
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bourgeois professors" talking to each other. The
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lists played a key part in not only getting out the
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information but also organising opposition to the
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January invasion by the Mexican army within hours of
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it happening. Demonstrations and occupations have
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been reported on it from Italy, France, USA, Canada
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and Ireland along with other countries.
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These lists gave activists not only detailed first
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hand accounts of torture being used by the Mexican
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state but also exposed the reasons for the invasion in
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the form of a memo from Chase Bank saying that if the
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government wanted to continue receiving loans it would
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have to eliminate the Zapatista's. The liberal
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mainstream media may be willing to cover events in the
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third world from the point of view of "look what the
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nasty tin pot dictator is doing". It is generally
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unwilling to expose the involvement of western
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companies and governments as the puppet masters behind
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this repression. Eyewitness accounts circulated on
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mailing lists have also revealed the use of US 'War on
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Drugs' helicopters by the Mexican army in strafing
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civilian targets.
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Although the importance of the Chiapas related mailing
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lists should not be over estimated they have served as
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a conduit through which the truth about what is really
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going on in Mexico can flow. Normally it takes months
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or years for these stories to emerge, now it is taking
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days or hours. At the time of writing it has become
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obvious that the Mexican army is pursuing a policy of
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causing food shortages in Chiapas. Although they have
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now left many of the villages they occupied they
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destroyed all or most of the foodstuffs before
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leaving. Reports such as this from Santa Elana are
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typical "As in Ibarra, they returned to find their
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corn, beans and coffee (constituting a six-month food
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supply) scattered and eaten by animals, and their
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houses ransacked."
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It is this sort of information that the state wants to
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censor from the internet. The censorship will be
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camouflaged by a mist of lies, hidden behind buzz
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words like pornography, drugs and terrorism. The last
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two months have seen the first shots in this battle
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and have seen some liberals falling into line in this
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new state offensive. According to the Sunday Times,
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Chris Smith, Labour's Heritage spokesman, said the
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findings of their article showed the need for
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international agreements to ban groups preaching
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violence from the information super-highway.
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The states job will not be easy however. The current
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structure of the internet makes effectively censoring
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it a very difficult prospect. And the crude attempts
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to set activists up for persecution has already met a
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heated response as thousands have e-mailed protest
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letters to some of the publications involved. One
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magazine was forced to publish a double page of
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letters protesting its original article. Many of
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these letters came from workers within the computer
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industry, protesting against the attempt to victimise
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fellow workers. A key factor in keeping the
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information freely flowing will be how far workers
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using and maintaining the net go along with or oppose
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this censorship.
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Joe Black
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