Tagged: sovereignity

Free Internet or Sovereignity

“I’m actually a little uncomfortable, in principle, [with the idea] that the action of a French court indirectly caused the removal of content in the United States”, David Clark (one of the first chief protocol architects of the Internet). #.

Clark was referring to Yahoo’s being sued in France for making Nazi memorabilia available for sale on an e-commerce site (illegal in France but protected under the First Amendment in the U.S.).
This one raises an interesting question:
Geek, open-minded and democrat I very much value Internet as a platform for free speech (even to a certain extend if it is about selling Nazi memorabilia but it is not the point here).
On the other hand I am more and more interested in politics (one says it comes with age) and the more I think about it the more I value the sovereignity of a country or a state. To be more precise I value my right to participate to the law within a country.

So if through means of votation I participate in the democratic choice of banning sales of certain items in the state I choose (ideally) to live in. Do I really want to let Internet to overrule my own choice?

Not really sure which one makes me feel the more uncomfortable.