In The Wake of the London Terrorist Attacks PM Theresa May Seeks To Regulate the Internet

Yesterday London saw multiple terrorist attacks leaving , as of now, seven killed and many more injured. In response Prime Minister Theresa May has made statements that it is time to regulate the internet, saying “"We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed - yet that is precisely what the internet, and the big companies that provide internet-based services provide,”.

In recent years Britain has cracked down hard on the internet and internet providers, blocking sites and policing what their citizens can and cant view. This is no different than how China cracks down on sites like facebook and google so those who speak out against the government can be silenced. Theresa May has completely missed the point on this one and furthermore going after the internet will do nothing.

Terrorists will always use what services they can to communicate and cracking down on the internet won’t stop this. The only effect cracking down on the internet will have is making is easier to exploit and spy on Britain’s own citizens. People who are really doing illegal activities always use the best technology available and there are already decentralized message passing systems that could be far easier and more effective than these so called internet “safe spaces”.

This is exactly how totalitarian countries start controlling their people. First you blame a target that everyone is against and you give up your rights, then the next thing you know you are the target for speaking up. Where do we draw the line at censorship and more importantly when do we say enough is enough? These politicians obviously don’t have any understanding of how the modern world functions or know exactly how it functions and are looking to exploit their own people. Either option is unacceptable.

I understand that after an attack everyone is scared and fearful, but we cannot let ourselves be bullied into sacrificing the rights of our own people because of a few bad actors. If you shut down a terrorist’s website, all you will do is push them deeper and deeper into the dark web, to the point where it will be impossible to trace any of their movement. We are better off allowing them to exist on the main internet and monitoring their movement more closely. Not to mention many of the attacks that have happened were because of intelligence organizations fouling up, not because we let them talk on the internet.

Terrorists will always find a way to communicate and organize, so if you are British, American, French, German, whatever, don’t accept that governments need to regulate the internet to catch terrorism. It gives them the tools to monitor yourself and take away your human right to privacy.