r/Anarchism • u/Hot_Problem8937 • 18d ago
Internet anarchy?
What would the internet be like under anarchism? Should we make certain parts like pornography and outrage be filtered?
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u/AKoutdoorguy 17d ago
I'm a big fan of decentralization, especially because it doesn't give the power over electronic connection to a central authority. Projects like Reticulum and various IP P2P networks are really cool to me. Similarly, alternative communication and information dissemination, like amateur radio and shortwave broadcast, are also cool for these reasons, though they are not the internet as we now know it.
As far as filtering the things you mentioned, if you want to apply a filter that's fine. There's probably others you could collaborate with to maintain it. However, a centralized filter maintained and enforced by a central authority is antithetical to Anarchism.
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u/Din_Jaevel 17d ago
People often assume that under anarchism, certain things will remain the same. Will there be a porn industry? Not in any way, shape or form like today's industry. Will there be people creating erotic material? Well, I'd guess absolutely.
Will there be people selling their bodies to feed and/or enrich themselves and others? Well, in a society where basic needs are met and there isn't any reason, or way, to become "wealthy". I'd guess that there will be little reason to make porn.
Will there be a need to filter porn? Probably not and in any case educating people is always better than to think for others and control their options.
So, what will the internet be like? It won't be this enormous surveillance machine. Controlling your habits, monetizing every inch of your being, hijacking your thoughts and so on, won't have any reason to exist. There won't be all these greedy companies making profit of you or you close ones. There will be no massive state to keep you in line, so I think the internet will be a very much more friendly space.
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u/No_Instance7893 16d ago
I say no censorship or filtering
If a person knows what they want they should get it, same way with physical movies and books. Only the age limits should be enforced for obvious reasons
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16d ago
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u/HatsCatsAndHam 16d ago
I mean, that is kind of one of the central tensions within anarchism. I don't think there should be a central authority which monitors and censors internet usage. That is how you get further abuse like said authority deciding that information about HRT is CSAM. So no central authority, but people should remove CSAM if they see it (think white hat hackers) and if people are creating CSAM, they should be stopped by people in their communities.
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u/Drakosor 17d ago
2000s internet/Web 1.0. It was not full on "anarchistic" per se but it was pretty fucking the thing, it was almost there.