Censoring mobiles and the net: how the West is clamping down

It was only a matter of time before governments decided that the ability of their citizens to use electronic media to organise themselves was a freedom too far. I can hear the screams about freedom of speech now, but what about sedition, which takes precidence the freedom of speech or the crime of sedition?

Se·di·tion   /sɪˈdɪʃən/ Show Spelled[si-dish-uhn] noun
1. incitement of discontent or rebellion against a government.
2. any action, especially in speech or writing, promoting such discontent or rebellion.
3. Archaic . Rebellious disorder.

Often sedition laws are used to muzzle political opposition. When /where is the line crossed ?

Well Tom I would say the line was crossed in UK when people were organised to riot, raid shops and apparently attack members of the public thus the intent to shut down the means whereby they can organise by calling on others to support them in what will ultimately become racially motivated disorder

In Iran they have effectively shut down the green revolution by taking down social media networks and are now removing sat dishes off rooftops .
APA - Iranian police launched special operation to dismantle satellite dishes ? <font color=red>PHOTO </font>

I think you have made my point, trogladites, but it is sad to see it happen in an advanced society although the Brits have been becoming more Orwellian for a long time now.

Again ; when is the line crossed ? I don't know. Our 2nd President John Adams tried to stifle political opposition with a sedition act . Woodrow Wilson again introduced them during WWI... and at various times we've had sedition trials... mostly during war times .

I don't know the law as it is applied to Great Britain. Generally I think err in favor of free speech.

Hello clete:

The airways don't belong to the government.. They belong to the people. But, if the people LAY DOWN for the government, as they are when they let the NSA spy upon them, then why wouldn't the government feel as though it could BLOCK the public airways??

Guard your rights, America, or they will soon be gone.

excon

yeah of course it stands to reason that the NSA listening in on jihadists call into the US would next shut down social media to repress domestic opposition .:rolleyes:

Who knows exactly what happens even in the US, when the news is. How many of us have been at events that happen, of know of soldiers who were at events in war, and when they heard of the official version or the news account it was nothing like what really happened.

Yeah who knows ? But there have been plenty of recent examples where if the government were going to shut down social media for things like wilding and flash mobs they could've made a case for it.
Ex is going a step further and saying that we should not even use the technology the enemy is using to combat them by listening in.

Of course the left never shys away from advocating the shut down of information organizations they disagree with ;or subjecting them to 'fairness doctrines '... or liberally identifying hate speech(or anything they define as hate speech ) as a crime. So I can see where a left leaning government like GB would not shy away from shutting the net down .

There are plenty of left leaning people here who would never advocate shutting down information organizations they disagree with, so there goes that theory.

Strange I had the distinct impression this UK government was on the right of the spectrum, I think your bias is showing

The spectrum is relative . The conservatives in GB are pretty much on board with the nanny state... they just think they can run it better.

So where would you place Ahamadjihad then, to the left of the Republicans?

If you put liberty to the right and tyranny to the left then yes... OBL is a leftist.

Well that quote pretty displays a warped view of the world.

Yes, I see where you got that image: American Thinker I'm sure they represent your points of view perfectly.

Interesting political spectrum I don't see republicanism or Islam on it anywhere. Perhaps they are off the chart.

Where I come from Liberal or liberalism is equated to conservative and certainly free but with a social conscience yet your ideas suggest it lies just short of totalitarianism you also suggests that conservative and libertarianism lie in the same plain. You forget that to the far right also lies totalitarianism

Hello again, tom:

Draw all the lines you wish..

If you call letting the NSA listen to your phone calls, and read you email, FREEDOM, and you call being the worlds LARGEST jailer FREEDOM, then I'd hate to see how free we're going to be when you get some more control.