What can we do?
Every step forward we take against this damn filtering, every time we knock out a new equipment building, the government builds three more. They lock them down tighter, obscure them more. Worse still, because they put them in more remote areas now, the public is starting to be affected as well. All the traffic being routed to the filtering engines is causing bottlenecks, forcing the government to limit citizen 'net use.
With ears pricked for the slightest noise in my lookout position, a crunch of leaves or a car coming up the driveway, I hear Lorry's urgent voice.
"Three minutes man, I don't want a repeat of September's fuck-up."
Hmm. September. A security officer showed up right after we had left the building, stupid git had entered the office despite the "lockdown" status these buildings are supposed to have. Incinerated in the blast.
I haven't slept right since then, I don't think any of us have. We weren't ever trying to hurt anyone in all of this, it was about the freedom of information, net neutrality. Of course, the government just used it as more propaganda against us, gave the guy a post-mortem award for bravery and condemned us all as vandals.
What sort of first-world country do we live in when our own government clamps down on what we're allowed to see? It makes me miss Hank even more, he was the one that got the blacklist copy, the one that he tried to show the people and the wider world some of the stuff that the government was blocking. Poor guy, fit and healthy as he was, somehow managed to die of a heart attack just two days later.
Why did I join this dangerous cause? I had a good job, decent life and a lovely wife. I never liked the idea of a net filter, never saw the benefits, but I guess I didn't mind it too much. Until the day some twisted sociopath kidnapped, raped and murdered my wife. The part that crossed me over the line was during his trial when he told the court that he had always wondered about it what it would be like, but because he was never able to see the damage it did and how horrible it was because it was "blocked content", he had to try it himself.
The court officer who escorted me out told me that I wasn't the first, that these cases were happening more and more frequently since the filter was put inplace. So I quit my work, went underground, started trying to help the public see that there is a better way.
Monday, April 5, 2010
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Wow. I've always loved your writing. I'm looking forward to reading more from you.
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