A website farce of fees!

It was in this weblog, that I cut to shreds the idea of imposing fees for news websites. I said it was the most outrageous thing that could be done to individual freedom in a country and one which drives away the ability of local people to excel in the ‘web news’ field. After all, no Website hosted overseas will be caught in this net. Of course the government will attempt to block those sites, but as we know any attempt at blocking one will circumvent the controls and become even more popular, than before the blocking, completely defeating the purpose in the first place.

It is of course with amusement that I read today that the latest cabinet decision was to halve these rates. In a few more wasteful cabinet discussions of a non event, it will be abolished altogether.

This desire to control everything is at the heart of the problem. In the end anyone or entity that tries to control everything will fall by the wayside, as there are numerous ways of circumventing these controls, and those who do so are the ones who benefit over those who fear to do so. It is therefore a license to those who wish to sidestep the controls, to so engage, and effectively go underground, as it is then not possible to be legitimate.

This kind of control that cannot be enforced due to the nature of the animal, is a waste of time and energy, and is seen as a further infringement of people’s rights. It is absurd to say that it is done because of outrageous statements made against individuals slinging mud at personalities that takes place. It must be remembered that no matter how tight the controls are the mudslinging cannot be stopped. Every attempt at stopping will just enhance the credibility of the ban. Disregard of lies will kill the misinformation.

The issue is about priorities and about trying to shift focus away from some of the real issues of the day. Making news about non news, to distract people from their daily travails is a cynical attempt at trying to fool people from what is happening every day in our society. We have a dictatorship that decides what they want daily, and then uses all the powers they have to get it. Nobody and nothing is sacrosanct and safe from them. It is this latter that every citizen must understand, as they attempt to control our lives. Unless and until people understand that we have given too much power to a handful, and they remove that power legitimately, we are in for a long haul of eroding freedoms and in the end the destruction of the nation state.