[66674] in Cypherpunks
Re: Internet plug pulled on Colombia's guerrillas
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (jim bell)
Fri Sep 27 17:49:09 1996
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 14:33:42 -0800
To: cadams@acucobol.com, cypherpunks@toad.com
From: jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>
At 03:05 PM 9/26/96 -0700, Chris Adams wrote:
>Internet plug pulled on Colombia's guerrillas
> 3:05pm EDT, 9/26/96
>BOGOTA, Colombia - A Colombian guerrilla group currently
>involved in a bloody offensive in the mountains and jungles,
>suffered a setback in its propaganda battle when its new-tech
>voice on the Internet was mysteriously silenced.
>
>The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which
>has periodically paralyzed half the country with road blocks,
>found its route to the information superhighway barred.
>
>The Communist insurgents, who rose up in arms in 1964,
>embraced new technology last year in their fight to overthrow the
>government by launching a home page on the Internet.
I couldn't resist smiling when I read this. Not that I want their access
cut; quite the opposite. But it is REALLY reassuring to see the authorities
behave in exactly the fashion you expect them to! Attempting to cut off
dissenting political voices IRL is de rigeur; now, this shows that they
believe "threat" to the government posed by allowing others to voice
contrary opinions on the 'net is real.
Jim Bell
jimbell@pacifier.com
