when it was installed. I discovered it
after I became aware that some of my email messages were not being delivered
to the intended recipients. Here's how the filter works. If
I send an email message that includes a link to the main location of The
Frontiersman Website, then that message is intercepted and deleted.
Another message that's identical except for the link will be delivered
immediately. I occasionally send pairs of test messages to see if
the filter is still working. So far, it is.
It's
beginning to seem a lot like a "long train of abuses and usurpations".
It isn't even a surprise. Indeed, it's been long anticipated.
Here are some observations from 1996, when the internet was young.
If
you are not aware of it, there is a battle going on in cyberspace, which
is over freedom of speech vs government attempts to control it. I
think, and I hope, that governments everywhere have met their match.
The InterNet has been called, "The world's biggest anarchy." What
is being seen for the first time in human history, is absolutely unmoderated
exchanges of ideas between millions of ordinary people all around the world.
For the first time ever, people who have felt themselves to be social outcasts,
sicos if you will, are freely and proudly exchanging thoughts and ideas
(and pictures) with others of similar bent. The InterNet, regardless
of what the conservative masters expect from their slaves, is destined
I think, to become THE most significant event this century. And I
honestly think that governments at all levels are terrified of it.
Imagine, ordinary people, talking to each other!! You might keep
an eye on the ACLU challenge to the censorship provisions of the "Communications
decency Act," which Clinton recently rammed through the house. In
ACLU vs Reno (the bitch), the government is trying to force lnterNet users
to "tag" so-called indecent or patently offensive words or images.
Government lawyers, however, have already conceded that, "it would be impossible
to implement this scheme given the technology currently available"....
But even if they lose, this case gives a crystal clear insight into the
motives of the feds, and their obsession with controlling every aspect
of our lives.
—Richard, of Vankleek Hill, Ontario
from a letter to the editor, June 11, 1996
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It
might have been impossible to implement such a scheme using the technology
that was available in 1996. The technology that's available today
is entirely equal to the task.
There
was some freedom in the country when it was young but, even then, the advocates
of repression were hard at work. When they couldn't move by force,
they moved by stealth. Incrementalism was their tool. When
the internet was young, again we had some freedom. Again, the advocates
of repression were hard at work. Again, incrementalism was their
tool. We haven't yet lost the battle of the internet, but we're losing
it. Private email messages are intercepted, scanned, and deleted
at the whim of the self-proclaimed guardians of communications decency.
Back in February of 2001, visits by Americans to the Iraqi national website
were blocked. Today, even visits by Americans to American websites
of which the authorities disapprove are discouraged by selectively blocking
access to the websites, by depriving potential visitors of the addresses,
or by harassing or punishing people who manage to visit the websites anyway.
In the larger situation, outside of the internet, historical documentaries
can be "corrected" according to the current political dogma. All
publishers and news agencies are licensed by the government. The
power to license is the power to control. Thus, all information sources
are, at least potentially, tools of the government.
The
deterioration of freedom in the country is a long-standing trend.
I perceive that the deterioration of freedom on the internet began to accelerate
at about the beginning of 2011. It was already present before that
but, since then, it seems to be getting worse faster than was previously
the case. So, maybe 2012 is the critical year. Maybe the deterioration
has reached a critical point after which it will reinforce itself.
Maybe if we don't reverse the trend this year, then we'll no longer have
the means to even complain to one another about it. We need to win
this battle and it seems like most of us aren't even fighting it yet.
The longer we wait, the more difficult it will become. The sooner
people get started, the easier it will be for them to "throw off such government"
and to "right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed".
Why are we waiting? Let's get started.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
Request
Sam Aurelius Milam III
I'd
appreciate it if some of you would go to libraries or to some other handy
locations and try to access Pharos and The Frontiersman Website.
http://frontiersman.t15.org/
http://pharos.0sites.org/
(It's a zero, the number not the letter.)
I just want to know if the websites are still generally accessible.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
Please use the enclosed envelope to send a contribution.
I prefer cash. For checks or money orders, please inquire.
For PayPal payments, use Frontiersman@manlymail.net.
January 2012 |
Frontiersman, c/o
4984 Peach Mountain Drive, Gainesville, Georgia
30507 |
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