Re: [gaia] Internet censorship and blockade in Catalonia (Spain) in the recent weeks and today

[Arjuna Sathiaseelan <[e-mail]>]

(cc-ing gaia)..

On 1 October 2017 at 18:05, Rohan Mahy <[e-mail]> wrote:
> To further what Arjuna said, an announcement about Internet blockades and/or
> Internet censorship should be posted here regardless if it is "legal" or
> "illegal". The discussion of the politics should be elsewhere.
> Thanks,
> -rohan
>
> On Sun, Oct 1, 2017 at 6:09 AM, Arjuna Sathiaseelan
> <[e-mail]> wrote:
>>
>> Great thanks.
>>
>> Better to have any further political debates done offlist imho.
>>
>> Thanks.
>> Regards
>>
>> On 1 Oct 2017 13:35, "JORDI PALET MARTINEZ" <[e-mail]>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I’m sorry, but this is not true. Ignoring part of the info, and spreading
>>> only partial histories, don’t make them true, actually is a way to CENSOR.
>>>
>>> I’m Catalonian and my view of the true is different. I’ve also seen some
>>> of the Court Orders, so I know what I’m speaking about.
>>>
>>> You’re also mistranslating *military police* from *guardia civil*, which
>>> is a totally different concept. Guardia Civil is the police that supports
>>> citizens in the small towns, take care of traffic in roads, and also many
>>> investigations related to cybercrime, among others. An explanation is here:
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Guard_(Spain)
>>>
>>> Also,
>>> http://www.guardiacivil.es/en/institucional/Conocenos/idcorporativa/naturalezami/index.html
>>>
>>> Our Constitution doesn’t allow to split the country, neither a referendum
>>> about that obviously. You can find consensus with all the parties, as they
>>> have been talking about for years, to amend the Constitution, but not to
>>> disobey the law. Otherwise, all the citizens will have the same right to
>>> ignore laws.
>>>
>>> So, isn’t the Spanish Government, but the Constitutional Court that has
>>> dictated that this process is illegal and can’t take place and took
>>> measures, such as blocking ONLY web sites duplicating the illegal
>>> information about the process. The same as if terrorist or thief’s, decide
>>> to create web sites to do apology of illegal acts, they will be banned, as
>>> well as every new copy.
>>>
>>> I’m all for freedom of speech, but never going against the law in a
>>> democratic country.
>>>
>>> I’ve several cases myself against the Spanish Government, and one of them
>>> already for 15 years. Should I disobey the law and jump over? NO, despite
>>> how much I believe I’m right (as many other people affected by this case), I
>>> need to wait, even if this takes other 15 years.
>>>
>>> If we allow, IN ANY *DEMOCRATIC* COUNTRY in the world, to jump over laws,
>>> we don’t have democracy anymore. I want also to split my home and the land
>>> where it is constructed from the country. Is that right?
>>>
>>> So, in consequence, anyone doing illegal acts, such as preparing the
>>> illegal referendum, will need to be prosecuted, pay the fines, etc.,
>>> OTHERWHISE, the rest of the citizens will have the SAME rights, to bypass
>>> even traffic fines.
>>>
>>> I’ve described the situation in a couple of articles:
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.circleid.com/posts/20170926_catalonian_matter_law_order_democracy_freedom_of_speech_censorship/
>>>
>>>
>>> https://jordipalet.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/isoc-against-its-own-principles-acting.html
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Jordi
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Mensaje original-----
>>> De: gaia <[e-mail]> en nombre de Leandro Navarro
>>> <[e-mail]>
>>> Responder a: <[e-mail]>
>>> Fecha: domingo, 1 de octubre de 2017, 13:50
>>> Para: "[e-mail]" <[e-mail]>
>>> Asunto: [gaia] Internet censorship and blockade in Catalonia (Spain) in
>>> the recent weeks and today
>>>
>>>     Dear all,
>>>
>>>     You may have heard that today the 1-O referendum in Catalonia is
>>>     ongoing. 73% of electoral offices were open this morning despite the
>>>     blockade from prosecutors, judges and the charges from police forces.
>>>     There are very long queues to vote.
>>>
>>>     Meanwhile the "guardia civil", a military police, together with the
>>> riot
>>>      police, have entered in large groups to some of the electoral
>>> offices
>>>     (especially those where high profile politicians were expected) to
>>> seize
>>>      the ballot boxes and papers. As a result of the police charges to
>>>     peaceful people, tenths of people have suffered injuries (you can
>>> find
>>>     in the media sad images in the election offices).
>>>
>>>     As a result of a long list of measures and countermeasures to avoid
>>> the
>>>     referendum (many orders from public prosecutors, only recently from a
>>>     judge, budget blockade to public payments of many kind), the Catalan
>>>     government has declared this morning the "universal census" so people
>>>     can move and vote in alternative offices if his own is blocked (as
>>> the
>>>     validation of voters is done over the Internet). Civil society have
>>>     found ways to spread the message and enable voting that were not
>>>     possible many years ago.
>>>
>>>     Voting is slow and painful but is progressing. There are many network
>>>     attacks, the police has disconnected Internet access and wifi APs to
>>>     schools to block the election offices, and many sites to collect and
>>> coordinate the process. The Internet is fragmented in Catalonia. Hundreds of
>>> web sites from public but
>>>     also civil-society organizations have been seized or blocked. A few
>>> days
>>>      ago, the tech responsible of the .cat TLD was literally taken from
>>> him
>>>     home while showering and detained for 3 days with no formal
>>> accusation.
>>>     As a result, the .cat TLD and many .cat sites have been blocked. Some
>>> people that
>>>     replicated web sites where detained and forced (by a judge + police)
>>> to
>>>     give their passwords for, not only the sites, but also their personal
>>>     email and personal accounts in social media.  Citizens and electoral
>>>     offices are using new imaginative and decentralized means to deliver
>>>     votes and manage the census (using VPNs abroad, Tor, IPFS, etc) to
>>>     certify the process.
>>>
>>>     This repression and human rights violations against a peaceful
>>> movement,
>>>      to block the political expression of a large group of
>>>     citizens against political problems, cannot be justified as being
>>>     declared "illegal" respect to a given rule of law (the Spanish
>>>     constitution defined 42 years ago, never reformed). Let's see what
>>> political solutions we can find now, after years of
>>>     political fights, and a weekend of repressive police actions against
>>> so
>>>     many citizens willing to express their political opinions. Probably
>>> it
>>>     will not be easier than before.
>>>
>>>     In my opinion, the human right for expression goes before the defense
>>> of
>>>      a given rule of law. Political negotiation and reforms are the way,
>>> and not
>>>     censorship, police charges and repression.
>>>
>>>     Certainly the Internet makes a difference in this process, for those
>>>     inside and outside. Among many other sad examples around the world,
>>>     let's learn and apply our lessons to build a more resilient and open
>>> Internet for
>>>     everyone.
>>>
>>>     Kind regards, Leandro.
>>>     --
>>>     Leandro Navarro
>>>     http://people.ac.upc.edu/leandro     http://dsg.ac.upc.edu
>>>
>>>
>>>     _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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Arjuna | http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~as2330/