how many here at ats are worried about what they have posted, page 3

Most of what I've said here has been very tame, compared to what others have written. Certainly I've never supported anything violent or illegal. Of course, that wouldn't protect me against a fascist regime, but right now we don't actually have a fascist regime in power. We could go that way if we're not careful, but so far we're not there.

But really, if they come for me (and many others), we're already toast. Our words are recorded for all time, logged and backed up and probably saved onto many personal hard drives as well. If they decide Comrade Chiron had disloyal thoughts, that's it for me.

But the Internet is a two-edged sword. Yes, it immortalizes words that may come back to haunt us; but it also makes it much easier to spread ideas around. Since it's so tightly linked to commerce, there isn't much chance of the Government doing away with the Internet. Too many corporations would complain.

Remember what happened a while ago, when some company's encryption key was cracked and published? They tried to claim they had a "copyright" on that number, and wanted to sue the people who published it. Within hours, this number had been published throughout the world, on hundreds of thousands of Websites. Songs were created based on the "notes" that the numbers would sound. Flags were created with the numeric codes standing for the colors. And millions of blogs simply reported the facts, including the number itself.

The Internet is very hard to censor. You can do it more or less in a place like China, where they have absolute control over every server. Even there they have plenty of leaks. They also don't rely on Internet for much commerce, at least not among the citizens. Elsewhere, though, it's almost impossible to censor the Internet.

That being the case, if the Government begins to suppress free speech and punish those who have expressed unfavorable opinions towards the Government, word will flash around the world within a few hours.

A paranoid scenario would not be a major roundup of ATS-type people. Rather it would be a much quieter, more subtle elimination of the most vocal people - the ones doing the most damage, coming closest to the secrets that must be kept hidden, the ones who are not just talking, but also doing. Then you might see the odd tragic accident, robbery gone wrong, victim of a "hate crime", a suicide now and then, maybe some child pornography found on a hard drive, drug busts, confinement in a mental institution (or heavy medication if no confinement), that sort of thing. Discredit them, cast doubts on their sanity, have them come down with H1N1 or AIDS or something, slip on some ice, whatever it takes. Heck, even set one group against another (or make it look that way), and blame any killings on some war between them.

That's what I'd be more worried about, the subtle attacks.