Internet Not as Controlled as We Think?

Hi ATS, I was wanting to ask you what you think about the internets obvious freedom. Have you ever tried to sell something, buy something prohibited by your government, or just flat out do what you want on it? Well I have and it is quite amazingly free. I have made thousands of dollars using the internet without paying a single dollar in taxes, purchasing cheap medicine, getting things off of my chest to relieve stress, talk smack about police and government, and many other things, and it feels GOOD. I don't know how long it will last though. I am sort of getting scared that I will lose my only source of freedom. I only make about 14,000 anually before taxes and resorted to ebay to supplament my very low income by drop shippping items. Funny thing is that while making money on the internet I am not for sure how involved the gov is in monitoring Pay Pal and auction sites. I have been wondering when the government will start forcing ebay to fork over its users income data. Any thoughts on this ATS?

Originally posted by cbaskins
Hi ATS, I was wanting to ask you what you think about the internets obvious freedom. Have you ever tried to sell something, buy something prohibited by your government, or just flat out do what you want on it? Well I have and it is quite amazingly free. I have made thousands of dollars using the internet without paying a single dollar in taxes, purchasing cheap medicine, getting things off of my chest to relieve stress, talk smack about police and government, and many other things, and it feels GOOD. I don't know how long it will last though. I am sort of getting scared that I will lose my only source of freedom. I only make about 14,000 anually before taxes and resorted to ebay to supplament my very low income by drop shippping items. Funny thing is that while making money on the internet I am not for sure how involved the gov is in monitoring Pay Pal and auction sites. I have been wondering when the government will start forcing ebay to fork over its users income data. Any thoughts on this ATS?

Hmmm, I'd like to point out that the FBI can subpoena Ebay and other US based companies for that kind of data. That's how they busted a theft ring in Portland, Oregon a few years ago.

You can gurantee, TPTB don't like the internet or what is said about them on it... I always wondered if *the good old days* to our grandkids was when the internet was really free.

Like grandparents speak of the USA, they say it was just pure awsomeness. Same way I look at the internet now, but like everything else that gets messed up, I think we the people on the internet our stuck inbetween the crossfire of the government and our personal internet use...

They already are trying to get rid of ANY file sharing on the net, people are getting sued all over for saying things on the internet, and it is starting to turn into a *look the internet threatens the governments of the world* Wikileaks didn't help, it might actually be worse now because the internet is used by real terrorist, and real bad people. They will not stop until there is some sort of laws that govern our internet as we know it today.. I smell it in the air.

reply to post by CodeRed3D


I want to assure you that the only thing I do illegal on auction sitesis, simply just not pay taxes. I do not run a theft ring off of these sites. Do you think that theFBI or IRS will start doing random tax checks on sellers? I sure hope not because it is unfair to tax 30 percent of someones income especially when it is only enough to pay rent, gas, and electric. High taxes make me mad!