Thread

1. usernomdeguerre · 1790961094 · focus · HN ↗

   >As we’ve said time and time again: the internet will always route around censorship.

   Is this still true, or has it become a truism? It seems nations like Iran and China (and events like Kashmir come to mind) have progressed the state-of-the-art and playbook to where we can't actually say it definitively will route around it.

   Now seeing that the US and EU are flirting with these similar restrictions it's making me wonder how we'll be able to keep hold of these principles.

   Maybe my concern with that adage is ultimately its passive voice, since it takes 'active' action by people to give us those options, and will probably take more actions by more people to keep it alive now.

   1. TeMPOraL · 1790962327 · focus · HN ↗

      It's never been true.

      The layer 2 and 3 of ISO/OSI stack does indeed "route around censorship". But the Internet as we know it is all Layer 7, and it's as centralized as it gets.

      That's why regulators often aim straight at Layer 7 entities - companies providing consumer services over the web. Because no matter how unblockable the route between you and some server is, it doesn't mean anything when the server itself is refusing to talk to you.

      1. mxkopy · 1790963644 · focus · HN ↗

         What about p2p and less scrupulous actors like TPB? I guess in China the former is probably more effective but this sort of thing is immediately what I thought of when I read OP

         1. EvanAnderson · 1790965200 · focus · HN ↗

            Having the power of violence behind you makes technical hacks mostly irrelevant.

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