Unintended Consequences

This is from anonymous. You might want to check it out. Then read on.

How do you like the websites you visit? How do you like what Microsoft has given you? How do you like the computer you bought?

These questions and more will be considered if SOPA gets passed. SOPA is only one of the latest ham-handed efforts by the government to regulate the internet. Essentially it is designed to give power to shut down websites to any one IN power who complains about some website or blog you visit. It assumes the website you visit is guilty of stealing information. Pirating. This will essentially give government the control of information that you crave. Back to the old top 3 news networks right?.. Not so fast and don't despair.

By great good luck, some paranoid chaps figured this out a few years ago and decided to do something about it. First things first though. Do you know what operating system you use? Do you know what style computer you have? Do you know what it takes to change a hard drive in a computer? Did you know that Microsoft can arbitrarily shut down your computer? Make it impossible for the non-tech to fix it unless they buy their software and hire a tech-savvy person to fix it?

That last happened to me. I happen to be tech-savvy and avoided the land mine laid by those good fellows from Microsoft.They were going to shut down my operating system without so much as a whoopsie, my bad. Basically I had to find the code key that authorized me using my computer. Think about that for a minute. I had bought this machine. I had software that I bought. I was not using it in an unlawful manner. I wasn't visiting porn sites. I wasn't engaging in terrorist commerce. I just had a problem with my mother board and I switched my mother board with one that worked. Unfortunately, Microsoft hadn't known that I did that and threatened to shut my computer down because I was using an unauthorized operating system on an unauthorized mother board. Hmmmm. They were more than willing to SELL me a new operating system if I couldn't come up with the proper code key. Well I found the code key and it got me to thinking. What happens if they did this because you did something they didn't like, like visit an opposing software giant? Apple? Well, visiting Apple is all well and good with Microsoft. How about visiting a blog that doesn't like Microsoft? I could lose my computer access to the internet because Microsoft didn't like me.

Well, I did me some research. I found a group of guys who didn't like Microsoft. They also didn't like Apple. They didn't like always getting an update that did nothing for them. They didn't like that Microsoft through their update system could load something on to your drive that you know nothing about. They didn't like that Microsoft could shut down their computers. They did something about it. The created  GNU. It is actually a free operating system. Free everything. In what is called open source code. In other words, it is written in plain English what it does. Their are no surprises. Anyone can get it. Anyone can use it. Anyone can contribute to it. There are some caveats. Mostly to do with freedom and liberty.

Dislike what Microsoft did to your reliable XP, Vista or even change the 32 to 64 bit which upsets your printer? No problem. With GNU, you decide. There are updates. Only ones you decide to update. The open source code allows you read what they changed and then decide. Download something that doesn't work? Well, there are forums which help guide you.

Now, this seems too good to be true. Well, you will have to get some basic knowledge, like how to compile a program. Something you do everyday when you visit  websites only you don't know you do it. The computer does it for you. You might have to if Microsoft is coerced into working with the Government on "stymieing the pirates", which is you.

SOPA will bring Microsoft down. One unintended consequence. Well, you say that the government will just shut down the internet...... Yes, they can shutdown nodes and certain routers, but....I did me some research into that too. It seems that the internet is designed to withstand a cyber attack, a nuclear explosion, power outages etc, etc. It was designed by the military. As long as electricity is applied to the net and you have power, you have connectivity. Which means you can get by with out an internet provider. You have cell phones and access to them. Which means you have access to the internet.

Now, about the computer you labored mightily to purchase only to be cut off and the hard drive doesn't work. Well, it takes a total of six screws to remove a hard drive from a computer case. There are several videos on YouTube which can show you how to do it. This introduction to building your own computer gets you started down the road to be able to replace your hard drive. It even features a computer case which will allow you to remove the hard drive with out picking up a Phillips head screwdriver. Neat hunh? You might end up totally rebuilding your computer into the information-age equivalent of a racer.

The unintended consequences are that more people will become less enamored with anything that government says it will do. Government will decree, but good folks will ignore them like they ignored Prohibition. News will be more word of mouth....er word of blog. Microsoft will go down in history as a major thief. Amazon e-readers won't be read and News Organizations will falter. All possible if SOPA passes. Does the government really want to go down that path?