It might sound very  positive for government to subsidise to subsidise the expansion of broadband to rural areas, but in regards to individual liberty it’s a very bad idea to have government involved with the infrastructure of the internet.

Firstly having government subsidise the roll out of broadband infrastructure is a corporatist ploy; basically the government subsidises the roll out of broadband & then the internet service providers profit for the government paying for broadband infrastructure. Put another way the tax payer would cough up for what the internet service providers would profit from.

I know some might say that with more & more business being conducted via the internet, the British economy would benefit as a whole from superfast broadband being expanded. I’m not denying that the expansion of superfast broadband wouldn’t benefit the British economy, but if there’s market demand then it’s the market that should pay. If industry & business are demanding the roll out of superfast broadband then it should be industry & business that pays for it! It shouldn’t be the taxpayer that pays for it whilst business & industry profits from it.

But my objection to government subsidising the expansion of broadband is not that its corporatist but also concerns regarding civil liberties.

The internet over the past two decades truly has been a bastion of freedom & governments around the globe have hated it for being so. Naturally to keep control of the masses governments around the globe have wanted to regulate & control the internet & subsidising the roll out of broadband is not an opportunity they’d pass up.

First there was the great firewall of China & people said it was nothing but kooky paranoia to think anything like that could happen in a liberal democracy. Well it did in Australia with the great firewall of Rudd, sure it doesn’t block as much as the Chinese firewall but its been blocking out more then the Aussie government claimed it would. Sure its blocking out repugnant things such as child porn sites & alike, but weirdly its also been blocking out websites that contain what could be perceived as anti government propaganda.

As I say governments want to control the masses & what the masses think, no way does government want the masses to find out that hey there are alternatives to the system that governs over them & such ideas have of proliferated due to the internet being the bastion of freedom which it has been.

Now that the Australian government has successfully initiated a national firewall it looks as if Indian government might implement their own. But there’s not only the Indian government, but there’s been talk about the US having a national firewall coming out of the Obama administration. Remember the US government has already initiated an internet kill switch, so anybody the US president is fed up of the criticism they’re getting online that’s it they shut down the internet. Here in Britain its been a member of Liberal Democrat (the party that supposedly supports civil liberties) who attempted just before the recent general election to introduce a bill in parliament to set up a national firewall.

The internet has stayed a bastion of freedom & that’s largely due to the lack government interference there’s been in regards to the internet. But now more governments are getting involved in regulating the internet its pretty obvious that no longer will it be the bastion of freedom & the benefit to humanity its been for being that bastion of freedom.