Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiat_Lux
The issue is that even if something you read today is legal to read, and own, doing so can put you on one of the assorted "enemies of the state" lists, or, be enough to charge you with a crime, either today, or several decades out.
- Read too many books on the same theme as The Turner Diaries and A Mighty Fortress, and you will be on a watchlist becuase of your racist attitudes. Possession of this material may subject you to criminal prosecution in Germany.;
- Read too many books that claim that Jews were not slaughtered by the Nazis, and you will be branded a Nazi. In France, Germany, and Canada, you are subject to criminal prosecution, merely for possession of the material;
- Read too many books that denounce Islam, and you will be branded as anti-Muslim. In some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, mere possession may result in an automatic death penalty;
- Study too many books on Wicca, or any of the other neo-pagan religions, and courts will brand you "an unfit parent";
Finally, is there a legitimate reason to collect the information in the first place? Neither ethics, nor security provide any justification for collecting the data. Financial gain is only for the what Wall Street calls the long term, but the financially prudent call the short term, and the Japanese consider as the day after tomorrow --- three to five years out. |
How's that slippery slope working out for you? It looks incredibly fun to zoom down way too quickly, but there's a few things stopping me:
-That data is not publicly available to anyone, aside from broad statistics.
-Even if the government has the data, there's no precedence for chasing after people for what they've purchased. Crime procedurals use library card information sometimes to find a murderer (see Se7en), but fiction can be a bit stretchy.
-Who even knows if the government cares. Oh boy, you went and read the Anarchists Cookbook. You and every other 13 year old on the internet. Congrats.
-We don't even know for certain what data is being sent by the eReader.
-It's easy to get around it by renaming the book file and title of any custom eBooks.
-It's also easy to get around it by simply not connecting your device to the internet.
Could it happen? Yes. It's all a very slippery slope, yes, I know. But in the totalitarian future you describe, I think we'll have more problems on our hands than this.