Last week the UK Parliament rushed through a bill that grants the government sweeping new powers to censor and disconnect websites and users who might commit a copyright violation.
Of course, punishing someone for an act that isn’t a crime, but might lead to a crime is nothing new. Almost all laws against gambling, drug use, and other consensual victimless activities are justified on the basis that these activities might lead to acts which harm people. Most citizens readily swallow the fear mongering sales pitch government uses to justify these laws and only object when a law directly impinges upon their own life. Since individual laws are typically tailored to target a minority of the population, liberties are continuously whittled away right before the eyes of a largely complacent public.
What makes laws like this one chilling is that the internet is fast becoming indispensable to daily life. We are on a trajectory where people will become dependent on the internet for anything having to do with financial transactions, communications, shopping, education, social interactions, and political activities. In other words, the internet will be as vital to life as transportation, food, housing, and energy. Cutting someone off from such basic necessities is rarely contemplated even after conviction of a serious crime, much less the accusation that someone might possibly maybe potentially commit a crime.
In any case, for anyone who has seen the movie, “Minority Report“, there is no doubt that the age of punishing “precrime” has become a reality. When it becomes impossible to go through a day without committing a crime, then your very freedom can be revoked by the government on a mere whim. In fact, I just bought a book about that very topic, but have not started reading it yet.
Have no doubt that similar legislation will eventually permeate all western democracies. The entertainment industry has spent a lot of money buying the support of legislators to get laws like this passed. No matter what government or country, there is no lobby and, thus, no voice for ordinary citizens.
