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Bill: Lex Verginia de Interrete
Details
Submitted by[?]: Factio Republicana Socialistica
Status[?]: defeated
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: September 4498
Description[?]:
| Verginian Law on the Internet Senators, The Internet, when first created, was full of promise and hope. It promised a digital utopia where democracy would reign and tyranny would lose its power. And yet, after centuries of operation, the internet has become a cesspool of hate-speech and hatred and the most powerful tool in the hands of those seeking to subvert and disrupt the democratic process. We believe that the fault lies not in the technology itself, but rather in the architecture of the internet. For this reason we believe it is possible to bring the internet back under democratic control by returning to the original design of the Internet. When first established the architecture of the Internet incentivized its users to pay attention to the quality of the content they created, while the lack of gatekeepers allowed for the organic development of a free and open marketplace of ideas that promoted good over bad content. However, the development of the ad-based revenue model pursued by tech giants incentivizes engagement, which results in the promotion of content that causes outrage but is not necessarily of good quality, while the original open marketplace has been replaced by a small number of gatekeepers who, through proprietary algorithms, control what content is sent to users who are thus reduced to passivity. The centralization of the Internet in the hands of a handful of oligopolistic companies guarantees that whatever problems emerge they spread throughout the system. Too much power now rests in too few hands. But the centralization of the internet is not necessarily a bad thing. If the Internet is treated as a natural monopoly, we can consider it as analogous to public utilities. And as a public utility, it makes sense to bring the Internet under public control, maintain it through public spending, and provide government oversight over its functions and operations. For this reason we call for the nationalization of the largest ISPs in Selucia, while maintaining smaller ISP cooperatives, with provisions in place to ensure they remain small. Additionally, in order to provide internet sovereignty, the government shall implement technological and legal measures to guarantee that, within Selucian territory, the Internet shall remain under Selucian sovereignty. As such any company wishing to operate on Selucian territory must follow Selucian regulations, including a complete ban on Internet advertizing. If we gain control over the Internet, we can place information under democratic control and achieve information sovereignty. Ursula Verginia Lutheria Senatrix |
Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change Internet regulations.
Old value:: The government allows anyone to use the internet but the police can run investigations concerning illegal activities conducted by using internet (child abuse, illegal filesharing, ...)
Current: There is major censorship of the internet by the government.
Proposed: The government runs its own internet with government approved content only and no connection to the rest of the world.
Article 2
Proposal[?] to change The government's policy on internet service providers (ISPs).
Old value:: Private companies provide internet service throughout the nation, without government interference.
Current: The government controls and provides internet service throughout the nation. Private ISPs are banned.
Proposed: There is a national state-owned internet service provider, but small private ISPs are allowed, which are heavily restricted to ensure that they stay small.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 01:44:25, December 11, 2018 CET | From | Clara Aurora - COSIRA | To | Debating the Lex Verginia de Interrete |
| Message | Senators, Once again, Factio Republicana seems to live in a utopia that does not correspond to reality. Giving control of the internet to the government is the worst idea that can come to a person's head. It is a direct way to control the masses. Camouflage the attempt to gain dominance over the Internet, which is precisely characterized by its freedom of expression, under the cloak of empowering the people is something that is not credible. We are totally in favor of passing laws that prevent hate speech on the Internet, but it is curious to be Factio Republicana's defense of this in this law while in other situations it seems to don't give a damn. Cloelus Pobius Astraeo Senator |
| Date | 10:38:04, December 11, 2018 CET | From | Factio Republicana Socialistica | To | Debating the Lex Verginia de Interrete |
| Message | Senators, It is utopian to think that there is freedom of information on the internet. All information is controlled by the tech giants, all access is controlled by information oligarchs, and all users have been turned into products. What this policy does is bring control over information into the hands of the democratically-elected government and away from the hands of private firms. Ursula Verginia Lutheria Senatrix |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | ||
| yes | Total Seats: 274 | ||
| no |
Total Seats: 274 | ||
| abstain | Total Seats: 0 |
| Random fact: Google Translate can help you with those language translations: https://translate.google.com/ |
| Random quote: "Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education and free discussion are the antidotes of both." - Thomas Jefferson |