Comcast and P2P

Posted on http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2007/10/25/blocking-network-packets-the-comcast-fiasco/#comment-21057

What is most interesting about this is the fact that, inevitably, the establishment raises the bar on anti-democratic practices, intrusions into freedom etc., and brings about the evolution of the next generation of technology - what will be the solution from the p2p community?

No-one should be surprised by this. The research carried out by the article’s authors sounds legitiate and well conceived. The results indicate a deterministic scheme, not some more random malfunction.

Comcast is no-doubt seen as a flgship in right-wing circles, including the RIAA and it’s ilk, a flag-ship amongst neo-fascist practices being rolled out in the name of protecting profit margins in the decadent media industries. But this is the tip of the fascist iceberg people!!

Politically and socially, this internet ‘war’ is perhaps the most interesting phenomenon. The establishment is claiming the moral high ground, and taking the opportunity to create and implement technologies which will be used against freedom of speech and freedom of activity per se, as suits the needs of the establishment and it’s political and economic community.

I note that encryption is now available in p2p client implementations. And what role might IPv6 play in all this? How is QoS and security balanced in an encapsulated protocol/content-type-agnostic scheme? Is it still true that the ‘internet’ is inherently a democratic space?

Anti-terrorism legislation (enacted by the terrorists themselves!) and anti-piracy measures are, simply put, the vehicles for anti-democratic controls and intrusions.

If you haven't seen 'The Great Global Warming Swindle' you simply don't know what you are talking about

I couldn't be more shocked than I am now.

While the kettle boiled and the anti-piracy message played I pondered the possibility of seeing 'the other side' of the global warming message, of weighing the merits of counter arguments and opinion. It would be, I expected, an interesting 78 minutes. I considered the carbon footprint of the packet of Gingernut biscuits I was opening and how that might be calculated. I also considered that, with my Excel spreadsheet skills being as finely honed as they are, I could probably do so and justify a career move into Global Warming consultancy. Ultimately though, I shuddered at the thought, thinking of the computer contracts I yawned my way through in the lead up to Y2k and what was then, seemingly just as enthusiastically, considered the impending doom of mankind.

My own beliefs before I watched this documentary were simply that a range of political agendas and a deep human pessimism had converged in a period where any view which expressed the idea that humanity itself was the problem would be ascendant. This can be demonstrated in a huge range of topics.

While obviously already skeptical of the seriousness of the global warming message, nothing could have prepared me for how shocked and astounded I would be at the end of this documentary. I would give an arm for a photo of the look on the face of a global warming zealot as they cringed their way through this.

Esteemed expert after esteemed expert parade their expert testimony and attempt to understand the social and political emergence of the overwhelming consensus that global warming is a man-made problem.

When I see members of the IPCC who have resigned and threatened legal action to have their names removed from its reports, the head of Green Peace claiming that the organization he helped found has become 'anti-human' in its core beliefs - the list goes on - it has the effect of making me feel quite naieve in the shallowness of my suspicions. This goes deeper than I'd imagined.

There are billions of dollars and thousands of careers now riding on the man-made global warming message remaining unchallenged. There are billions of lives at risk should it continue unchallenged.

I'll avoid any more spoilers here. If this is herecy, then it'll be a short, painful gesture to the poor souls who've made this documentary to give them their time.

Links

• Official documentary site
• Wikipedia debate
• Channel 4 pages