Prophecy

“As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.”

- Commissioner Pravin Lal Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri 

I’ve realised a lot in the last week.

I’ve realised that I cannot trust the people who are supposed to protect my civil liberties. If it comes down to my right to free expression or their grip on power, I know which they will choose.

I’ve realised that the powers that be respect no ethical constraints when it comes to getting what they want. The United States – a country founded on the principals of liberty, justice and fairness – no longer respects the idea of due process. The law is no longer there to protect the citizenry, but to protect the interests of big business. They think you’re a criminal? Then you’re a criminal.

But I’ve also realised that these elite don’t hold all of the power. I have seen ordinary people expressing extraordinary outrage at the abuses of power that have been allowed to go unchecked for too long. I have seen people, their freedoms threatened, rising together with a single, eloquent voice and demanding a halt to the insidious erosion of their civil liberties.

Those in power have always been afraid that the people they govern will realise how precarious their position is. Elected representatives are not cleverer, better or even more suited for government than you or I, but we have allowed them to forget who they work for. When knowledge is free, the game changes.

The Internet, our internet, is the greatest gift we will give our children. It will enable them to know and do things we never could. It will enable the people of the world to act together as never before. It will eventually enable us to break through the ceiling of bureaucratic governance and govern ourselves and each other; a kind of “Cloud governance” with all of humanity aware of its rights and responsibilities to every other human being and no need for top-down interference. Remember Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri? Well we have before us the fragile, embryonic Planetary Datalinks. Let us not be the generation who let it be destroyed.

Starting somewhere...

Have you ever illegally downloaded a film or album?

Richard O'Dwyer is a 23 year old British student who has allegedly infringed copyright law. A British court has decided to allow his extradition to the U.S. As more and more of the globe becomes interconnected, are we to assume that the U.S. wants its laws to apply wherever there is an internet connection? 


What follows is the email I sent to the Home Secretary. If you answered yes to the first question, I urge you to do the same.

Dear Teresa May,
I am writing to register my extreme displeasure at the apparent abandonment of a young man by his country. I refer to the treatment of Richard O'Dwyer by the British legal system.
I believe, as I am sure you do, that your first duty as Home Secretary is the protection of all British citizens from injustice. The extradition of this young man would be a dereliction of that duty. Richard O'Dwyer's alleged offence was committed on British soil, by a Briton. If the charges levelled at him are true, why can he not be tried under British law, and held on British soil? 
The issue of copyright infringement is obviously an important one in the U.S. at present, with many eager to set a precedent that favours stricter controls. While such an issue is so high on the political agenda, how can O'Dwyer be guaranteed a fair trial? 
Surely capitulation to this extradition request is a capitulation to American rule of the Internet. Where is the line to be drawn? Where copyright law applies, how long before other civil liberties, already covered by British law are open to question?
I hope that you will consider these factors in your decision, and realise that the extradition of Richard O'Dwyer would set a dangerous precedent.