{"id":4556,"date":"2014-08-14T15:49:50","date_gmt":"2014-08-14T19:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/?p=4556"},"modified":"2014-08-14T15:49:50","modified_gmt":"2014-08-14T19:49:50","slug":"necessity-free-flow-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2014\/08\/14\/necessity-free-flow-information\/","title":{"rendered":"The Necessity of the Free Flow of Information"},"content":{"rendered":"

Free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. … [A] free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism.<\/p>\n

Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although this quote is from a video game (Alpha Centauri, actually), it doesn’t make it any less true – or less relevant, especially today.<\/p>\n

Censorship – and especially censorship of news and events – is bad, bad, bad<\/em>. How else will we know when our rights are being infringed or our freedoms being repressed if we can’t hear about it and talk about it? Remember: it is in the interest of the oppressor to suppress information about his oppression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. … [A] free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. Although this quote is from a video game… Continue reading The Necessity of the Free Flow of Information<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[353,352,25,392],"class_list":["post-4556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-society","tag-freedom","tag-information","tag-quote","tag-society","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pimUj-1bu","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3043,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2010\/04\/22\/lessons-we-still-havent-learned-from-1984\/","url_meta":{"origin":4556,"position":0},"title":"Lessons we still haven’t learned from 1984","author":"Keith Survell","date":"April 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking at George Orwell's novel '1984' and seeing some uncomfortable parallels to our modern world.","rel":"","context":"In "My Opinion"","block_context":{"text":"My Opinion","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/my-opinion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2008\/05\/1984-was-not-supposed-to-be-an-instruction-manual-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":308,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2004\/11\/15\/fcc-censorship\/","url_meta":{"origin":4556,"position":1},"title":"FCC Censorship?","author":"Keith Survell","date":"November 15, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"When I read this, my jaw dropped. Just read this... please.","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3705,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2011\/12\/18\/why-sopa-must-die\/","url_meta":{"origin":4556,"position":2},"title":"Why SOPA Must Die","author":"Keith Survell","date":"December 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act) Must Die - and here's why.","rel":"","context":"In "Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Internet","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/technology\/internet-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2533,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2009\/04\/23\/using-tax-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":4556,"position":3},"title":"Using Tax Money","author":"Keith Survell","date":"April 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Using tax money to provide goods and services does two things: it hides the true cost by shifting the burden of payment onto other people and it eliminates choice. Those are both bad, but for different reasons.\"","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6224,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2025\/02\/01\/existing-and-resisting\/","url_meta":{"origin":4556,"position":4},"title":"Existing and Resisting","author":"Keith Survell","date":"February 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"As long as there is a breath in my body, I shall not cease to be a thorn in the side of those who would prevent others from being who they want to be, or denying the rights of others to live as they choose, or spreading hatred and fear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Opinion"","block_context":{"text":"My Opinion","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/my-opinion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":150,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2004\/06\/27\/what-ive-been-talking-about\/","url_meta":{"origin":4556,"position":5},"title":"What I’ve Been Talking About!","author":"Keith Survell","date":"June 27, 2004","format":"quote","excerpt":"\"The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the rain may enter; but the King of England may not enter; all his force dares not cross the threshold\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}