soap box

this morning i bumped into internet censorship for the first time. i was looking for images and as often happens ended up on some weirdo site. except, when i clicked through there were message in thai. i don't speak thai, but being the enterprising young man that i am, i put it into the google translator.
it was a nice message from the police, saying basically that they had decided that that particular website is no good for me. no gambling, no sex and no sites that tell you how to get around censorship.

what's more is from yesterday morning people have been reporting having problems visiting sites like CNN, Facebook, Yahoo, Flickr...

hang on. i decide what's good for me. no one else.

the point that these nations are missing is that they are using technology developed by free men, to try and fight freedom. telecomm's, cars, planes, internet, mass production, cellphones, sattelites, computers - the list goes on. all developed by western societies that freed themselves from state domination and set up collaborative government to govern states, not people. although truthfully, that is once again at risk.

censored and repressed societies don't prosper. they decay. and using the technology developed by free people to repress your own people is in effect making you subservient to the free nations.

but i guess someone has to make the shoes, right?