[jivatmanx]

Vietnam is a communist tyranny that simply applying existing laws and policies to a new medium, so this isn't really a change.

Economists prefer percentages to absolutes, and trends to isolated incidents. 9/11 has not only halted the long trend towards increasing freedom, but began a new and troubling trend of growing tyranny.

Perhaps the U.S. isn't overtly attacking press freedom, but the U.K. is, informs the U.S. before every incident, and the U.S. couldn't be happier.

[slacka]

Events like this are a reminder of why technology like Tor and I2P are so important. When I was working in China, I was surprised by the number of people that were aware of Tor and those that I introduced it to were thrilled to have their freedom back. In Thailand, I found it installed in Internet cafe's to access blocked sites.

[jawngee]

Tyranny is a bit overstated.

[wyager]

Said people in every historical state that was slowly sliding towards despotism.

[mpyne]

But on the other hand, making the U.S. congruent to every despotic state tends to cheapen the sacrifice of those who actually had to live (and die) under those despots, instead of sipping a venti espresso at Starbucks while typing away on their MacBook Pro.

[veidr]

Some people sip espressos in North Korea, too.

Meanwhile, we (Americans) have more people living in cages than North Korea, China, Iran, and Vietnam combined. Most of them citizens, incarcerated after being subjected to extremely dubious trials for crimes related to drugs -- and whoops, look at today's latest headline: Drug Agents Use Vast Phone Trove Eclipsing N.S.A.’s

Relatively free states slide morph into corrupt police states precisely when the people sipping coffee with their luxury computers refuse to notice it happening.

[mpyne]

> Relatively free states slide morph into corrupt police states precisely when the people sipping coffee with their luxury computers refuse to notice it

That's... at least mildly pretentious. What social ills are the brave bands of roving latté-sippers going to save the country from next? Anyways, history has shown that despots don't have to care about what the intelligentsia thinks.

[veidr]

Urrrgh, for fuck's sake: are you gonna make me trot out the 'First they came for the...' cliché (which like all good clichés is totally on point)?

Obviously, despots don't care what the intelligentsia or anybody else with < despot power thinks. But in a high-functioning democracy, it is only through the apathy or willful ignorance (or freaky racism / nationalism) of the citizenry that you get despots in the first place. We're not there yet, but are obviously on that path.

I assume you're caucasian and rarely have your luxury car searched at traffic stops, or your electronic devices searched at border crossings? Me too. Yay for us.