Today, I want to be FREE

This one is also Cory Doctorow's fault. I'm sick and spend most of yesterday laying in bed and devouring his new book Little Brother. Like all his others it's free (as in beer) and available to read online here. I love that kind of freedom, not as much as some (*cough* freegans *cough*) but a lot; I've done my fair share of dumpster diving, best find a computer full of viruses with a screwed up BIOS that my friend and I got working. I'll leave the rest of that story for another day. This sort of freedom, getting something without having to give money for it is called gratis (if you clicked on the "as in beer" link you already know this); it's awesome.

Also awesome is the other sort of free (as in speech): Libre. This one is great, it's awesome (we've lost the real sense of that word by the way), it's... the dog's bollox (I promise that it's not a picture of a dog's balls, scout's honor). We are, however, losing it in this country. The DMCA and the Patriot Act (ACLU link, some times too left for my taste but this is good info, imho) are the two big reasons I want to leave the country but the Hamlet principle applies (bear those ills we have,. Than fly to others that we know not of). Besides, the DMCA is, despite the RIAA and MPAA's fettish-like attachment, a bad law that doesn't do much. I can still get any album I want or any movie I want or any TV show that I want (e.g. the latest Dr. Who from the BBC while BBC America is a year behind) in less time that it would take to get it legitimately (read: legally, I suppose) and it's all free (like beer). That's not saying that what I'm doing is necessarily illegal (except circumventing the copy protection on my DVDs, those I bought in the store, so I can watch them on my iPod or make a backup) as I would argue that if I can get a copy of the show on VHS from a friend why not online and why just one friend not however many are in the swarm.

None of the above has anything to do with Doctorow's book, I got distracted, sorry. Little Brother is the single most frightening thing I have read in a very long time. It is not horror by any stretch but I could see the things he described the Department of Homeland Security being done for real. I won't ruin the story, go read it, but it's scary and I see it happening. I want my country back. I want politicians who are not the lowest common denominator. I want politicians who will fight for our liberty not give it up to give us illusory security. I want your vote for Congress. Wait, no that comes later; give me a few years then I'll do "Today, I want to be in Congress (and I need your help)".

In the mean time I really do want to encrypt my data. I don't have anything TOO incidious on my computer(s) but my life is truly on those machines and it's almost all stored in clear text. Similarly I'm looking at torrent freedom to keep my online goings on encrypted. Privacy is, for me, a buttress and necessary precondition for freedom not a threat to it. Finally, and note well this is not arguing for the violent overthrow of the government, but I want to just give a passage from one of my favorite documents.

'Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.'