Return of the Geek Jedi

There is an attempt to revive the early Internet hacker culture with all its reliance on virtual virtuosity.

For some time it has been obvious the corporate-government (read “fascist”) alliance has been trying to tame the Net. The corporations are turning it into a form of TV-like one-way delivery of sales pitches, and the government simply wants to control information in general. That is, both want to shut up all us ordinary people so they are the only ones talking.

Provided all we did with the Net was exchange personal fluff, this wouldn’t be happening. Sharing serious thoughts is the real enemy of the fascist state, but total information liberty is the fundamental purpose of the Internet. Due to the nature of things, we who seek truth must tolerate a lot of crap on the same channels we use for serious communication, and we have ways of dealing with that. The primary subject of a major portion of my posts here is Linux as a good way of defending against threats on the Net, and is a source of my limited fame. I’ve been running nearly 300 hits per day this week, mostly viewing my articles on RHEL 6; the traffic soared when CentOS 6 was finally released a few days ago. It’s a real blessing to me I am able to help folks with the means of Internet communications, as Linux in general and Red Hat (and clones) in particular are a very good way of taming the Net threats we face as ordinary users. That we dare to discuss what government ought to be is becoming increasingly dangerous, and I expect the same kind of sanctions will eventually be imposed on technical discussions of keeping the Net open, including discussions of the best software for the purpose. In other words, I would be surprised if some portions of our Linux talk don’t become labeled “enabling terrorism” some day.

On the one hand, we note the trend toward cellphones as the biggest single route of Net access for most users. The very nature of cellphone technology means corporations can more tightly control that access. It’s what they want and they are pushing it hard. To the degree I think about it at all, I’m researching how I can make my next cellphone something they can’t control, say something running Maemo, which retains a high degree of hacker independence. Likely I can’t possibly afford the hardware meant to go with it, but I can dream, eh?

On the other hand, we see government working harder at controlling the underlying framework itself. The military seeks make cyberspace the next battleground, with all the military control that comes with the meaning of “theater of operations.”

Just as Maemo is a symbol of access independence for cellphones, and Linux in general for computing devices, so the current research into alternative networking technologies is where the Geeks are exploring a way to keep the original Internet alive (check out the links at the bottom of the page there).

Granted, Scripture discourages any active interference in human government. There is no correcting the state, not even in democratic societies, because democracy is a fable cynically perpetuated by those elites who so masterfully steer things. The one area mandated by Scripture which overlaps into resistance is communication. We have a mandate from God Himself to communicate, and this empowers some effort to flout the laws which seek to restrict passing information. True believers would never participate in anything approaching censorship, because that simply offers to the evil forces more power to block the Christian message. We do seek to influence what society is willing to publish, but not by coercive means, only those voluntary. There is a difference between censorship and the simple free choice not to put resources into transmitting evil. We would naturally insist sinners, and the state itself, should have equal free access to the Internet. These various efforts to create an alternative Internet — a sort of Geeknet — is a form of resistance Christians must support.

With my limited technical knowledge, I’ve been supporting everything which offers more freedom in the virtual space. For example, I’ve been keeping an eye on Diaspora as a far more sensible version of Facebook. On the one hand, it will never be all that popular. On the other hand, that’s the whole point. As most users are nearly brain dead and annoying, they can have their Facebook with all it’s fascist manipulation policies. I want no part of that because precious little good is even possible there. What I truly value does not require herding vast numbers by manipulation. Indeed, what I value requires avoiding manipulation, and requires letting people have what they really want. Let them have their Facebook with everything I hate about it; they deserve what they get when it is turned against them, as it surely will be at every opportunity. People should be free to choose Hell. Meanwhile, those whose consuming interests are somewhere above the level of fluff should also be free to choose something else.

I realize if things get tilted too far toward fascist controls, this blog will disappear. Until then, at least a portion of what I post will always be about ways to promote user control over how they access and use the Net. That includes a strong interest in anything that bypasses fascist state controls at every layer of networking technology. I hold out great hopes this research and planning going into the “Intermesh” is at least as successful as Linux itself.