SHOOT2KILL66
The Gardener
This was in this months soft secrets some of you might find it intresting too
The news recently has been all about the freedom of speech, which the Chinese government has all but removed where it comes to the Internet.
Web surfers essentially view a version of the Internet which the Chinese government has first passed fit for general consumption and once again human rights activists have been up in arms over the sweeping measures.
I know what youre thinking. Whats that got to do with us, right?
On the 27th of December 2007 the Canna Zine (http://cannazine.co.uk ), a daily cannabis news website based in the UK, was accepted as an accredited Google News source.
Frankly I was shocked and stunned as previously we had published our press for global syndication via a network of online PR sites, so it was no secret where we were coming from with regard to our material.
Be that as it may, our first article, syndicated via Google News in our own right, went out on December 27th 07.
On December 31, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith passed a new technology into UK law. A measure called "Cleanfeed".
Essentially, Cleanfeed is a means of censoring websites the government don't like, and after the material we have published, about the lies this administration have told regarding cannabis and the laws surrounding it, its fair to say the government don't like the Canna Zine. Not one little bit.
Since the start of January we have suffered a catalogue of problems with regard to getting our material published.
Services which we pay for, but which over a period of time, we no longer received, or receive, but with a marked degradation of service levels.
British Telecom
It started when my broadband connection was all of a sudden cut off. Phone lines too.
After two days of British Telecom tech support telling me "the fault is a mystery", I decided to do some of my own detective work.
I'm currently staying with my girlfriend whilst I wait for a new house in Cardiff, and we're smack bang in the middle of a South Wales housing estate.
The only service provider in the area, is British Telecom.
So I checked with the neighbours either side and lo and behold their phone service had been unaffected throughout the entire period, which eventually ran to almost 5 full days. To this day BT, (and their home-hub broadband service) have been unable to give a reason for the break in service.
They still took their payment all the same!
Web Hosting
Then on the 14th of January I started receiving e-mails from my web-hosting company, which is a British company whose name I won't mention right now as I'm still in communications with them on the subject.
The e-mails stated, "as part of a service improvement scheme, your web files are being moved to a new, faster server." These web files cover around a dozen different websites.
Regular visitors to the Canna Zine will know the service has always been good. Very good in fact. The website always operated well. Pages loaded very quickly.
But on the 14th January my service levels dropped to a crawl. People sat staring at a blank screen waiting sometimes 2 or 3 full minutes for the page to load. A situation which has remained to date, and which has seen the visitor numbers dropping off daily as a result.
Google News UK
On the 20th of January I released a story to Google news and that was to be the last article I would release from the Canna Zine as Google News UK pulled the plug.
Why?
I would be guessing if I answered, but you only have to read through my material, which is still on Google News, to see why the government, Gordon Brown, and Jacqui Smith specifically, may want to take the Canna Zine "off the air".
Lies? Untruths?
Not a bit of it. We only tell the truth regarding the legal status of cannabis, but perhaps this is the problem?
I decided I needed to do some research and after only a search or two I was shocked at what I found out.
Apparently the Internet we all love and know so well is actually being overseen by the authorities. Every web search, every website we view, every picture file we look at, has been pre-agreed by the government, who says whether we can or can't look at it.
How does that make you feel? Would you like to complain to your local member of Parliament? You cant. Would you like that he represents you as the motion is discussed in Parliament? He cant as there is no discussion. Whats done is done and we have no right of reply.
Back in December, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith wrote some unbelievable new laws.
Laws which received little, or no publicity. Laws which never got to follow the normal pattern of passing through the Houses of Parliament before becoming statute.
How it works
The technology behind these new laws was designed and conceived by British Telecom. The mission brief?
To stop the upsurge of websites displaying child pornography and at face value there cant be very many UK citizens that would disagree with the need for such measures. Getting a little heavy handed with web administrators who make their living from displaying disgusting images involving children can be no bad thing right?
But are the new measures going to stop there? Or will the government extend these measures at will?
Its hard to say. As mentioned earlier there is no public right of reply over these new regulations. But before going any further let me tell you what I found out about cleanfeed.
Apparently British Telecom came up with this piece of technology, by which it, and the industry watchdog the Internet Watch Foundation gathers a set of web addresses which it then passes on to the Home Office.
In turn the Home Office adds its own hit list to the details provided by BT, and this list is then distributed around Internet Service Providers with the instruction block traffic to and from these web addresses.
Home Office minister Vernon Coaker approached every Internet Service Provider in the land, (and a few abroad), and invited them to join in this initiative. Thereafter it was simply a case of providing the ISPs with the addresses of the offending websites, and the deed was done. The Internet, was censored.
But are we happy viewing the ultimate icon of freedom of speech the Internet, after first being OKd by someone at the Home Office?
Do we trust the government enough to treat these responsibilities with a fair hand? And if we do, can we guarantee that all future governments will treat them with the same responsible attitude?
Is the government going to target only websites involved in distasteful pornography?
It appears not. From evidence I have found out, and witnessed at first hand through the month of January, this new technology also applies to websites guilty of no more than causing the government some irritation or embarrassment.
No one can doubt the cannabis issue here in the UK is an irritation to the government and as thats our primary source of material on the Canna Zine, I guess that makes us a government irritant. The cream they used to treat this irritant, beggars belief.
It was January 20th our last story was syndicated by Google News
By January 22nd I was aware no more of my stories were being picked up so I emailed Google News looking for some answers.
In the e-mail, which was polite and courteous throughout, I attempted to get to the bottom of why the Canna Zine had the plug pulled as Google are not normally a company who bow to bully-boy tactics.
Nothing came back in reply.
The following day I mailed them again.
Silence.
The third day I mail again asking direct questions about cleanfeed and by this time I'm well and truly pissed off with the whole thing.
Nothing!
It was the same with my hosting company.
Try as I may, to get some information out of them, their replies (I'm a customer and I was dealing with tech support so I guess they were duty bound to answer), referred only to technical possibilities, but even though I asked direct questions regarding Cleanfeed, I got no mention of the word back from them. It was as if I never mentioned it in the first place.
BT never even wrote back. Still haven't as we go to press (January 25th).
I mailed the whole of Fleet Street, with not a single reply even out of curiosity.
No one will talk about, or even acknowledge the fact I mention Cleanfeed. Its as if it doesnt exist.
Later on January 22nd the whole thing took a far more sinister turn, but I'll tell you about that next time.
Red Dragon
Why would the UK government want to take a tuppeny website like the Canna Zine off-line? My guess is because we're publishing news which has never before been allowed.
The UK government has a warm and cosy relationship with the alcohol industry. An industry which contributes literally millions of pounds sterling into the UK economy every single year.
But the truth is out. This relationship causes over 10,000 deaths every year from alcohol related causes and its fair to say if alcohol were invented today, it would not be allowed a licence for sale.
But don't take my word for it. Check out some of the news which we have published on the Canna Zine recently and make your own mind up.
The news recently has been all about the freedom of speech, which the Chinese government has all but removed where it comes to the Internet.
Web surfers essentially view a version of the Internet which the Chinese government has first passed fit for general consumption and once again human rights activists have been up in arms over the sweeping measures.
I know what youre thinking. Whats that got to do with us, right?
On the 27th of December 2007 the Canna Zine (http://cannazine.co.uk ), a daily cannabis news website based in the UK, was accepted as an accredited Google News source.
Be that as it may, our first article, syndicated via Google News in our own right, went out on December 27th 07.
On December 31, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith passed a new technology into UK law. A measure called "Cleanfeed".
Essentially, Cleanfeed is a means of censoring websites the government don't like, and after the material we have published, about the lies this administration have told regarding cannabis and the laws surrounding it, its fair to say the government don't like the Canna Zine. Not one little bit.
Since the start of January we have suffered a catalogue of problems with regard to getting our material published.
Services which we pay for, but which over a period of time, we no longer received, or receive, but with a marked degradation of service levels.
British Telecom
It started when my broadband connection was all of a sudden cut off. Phone lines too.
After two days of British Telecom tech support telling me "the fault is a mystery", I decided to do some of my own detective work.
I'm currently staying with my girlfriend whilst I wait for a new house in Cardiff, and we're smack bang in the middle of a South Wales housing estate.
The only service provider in the area, is British Telecom.
So I checked with the neighbours either side and lo and behold their phone service had been unaffected throughout the entire period, which eventually ran to almost 5 full days. To this day BT, (and their home-hub broadband service) have been unable to give a reason for the break in service.
They still took their payment all the same!
Web Hosting
Then on the 14th of January I started receiving e-mails from my web-hosting company, which is a British company whose name I won't mention right now as I'm still in communications with them on the subject.
The e-mails stated, "as part of a service improvement scheme, your web files are being moved to a new, faster server." These web files cover around a dozen different websites.
Regular visitors to the Canna Zine will know the service has always been good. Very good in fact. The website always operated well. Pages loaded very quickly.
But on the 14th January my service levels dropped to a crawl. People sat staring at a blank screen waiting sometimes 2 or 3 full minutes for the page to load. A situation which has remained to date, and which has seen the visitor numbers dropping off daily as a result.
Google News UK
On the 20th of January I released a story to Google news and that was to be the last article I would release from the Canna Zine as Google News UK pulled the plug.
Why?
I would be guessing if I answered, but you only have to read through my material, which is still on Google News, to see why the government, Gordon Brown, and Jacqui Smith specifically, may want to take the Canna Zine "off the air".
Lies? Untruths?
Not a bit of it. We only tell the truth regarding the legal status of cannabis, but perhaps this is the problem?
I decided I needed to do some research and after only a search or two I was shocked at what I found out.
Apparently the Internet we all love and know so well is actually being overseen by the authorities. Every web search, every website we view, every picture file we look at, has been pre-agreed by the government, who says whether we can or can't look at it.
How does that make you feel? Would you like to complain to your local member of Parliament? You cant. Would you like that he represents you as the motion is discussed in Parliament? He cant as there is no discussion. Whats done is done and we have no right of reply.
Back in December, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith wrote some unbelievable new laws.
Laws which received little, or no publicity. Laws which never got to follow the normal pattern of passing through the Houses of Parliament before becoming statute.
How it works
The technology behind these new laws was designed and conceived by British Telecom. The mission brief?
To stop the upsurge of websites displaying child pornography and at face value there cant be very many UK citizens that would disagree with the need for such measures. Getting a little heavy handed with web administrators who make their living from displaying disgusting images involving children can be no bad thing right?
But are the new measures going to stop there? Or will the government extend these measures at will?
Its hard to say. As mentioned earlier there is no public right of reply over these new regulations. But before going any further let me tell you what I found out about cleanfeed.
Apparently British Telecom came up with this piece of technology, by which it, and the industry watchdog the Internet Watch Foundation gathers a set of web addresses which it then passes on to the Home Office.
In turn the Home Office adds its own hit list to the details provided by BT, and this list is then distributed around Internet Service Providers with the instruction block traffic to and from these web addresses.
Home Office minister Vernon Coaker approached every Internet Service Provider in the land, (and a few abroad), and invited them to join in this initiative. Thereafter it was simply a case of providing the ISPs with the addresses of the offending websites, and the deed was done. The Internet, was censored.
But are we happy viewing the ultimate icon of freedom of speech the Internet, after first being OKd by someone at the Home Office?
Do we trust the government enough to treat these responsibilities with a fair hand? And if we do, can we guarantee that all future governments will treat them with the same responsible attitude?
Is the government going to target only websites involved in distasteful pornography?
It appears not. From evidence I have found out, and witnessed at first hand through the month of January, this new technology also applies to websites guilty of no more than causing the government some irritation or embarrassment.
No one can doubt the cannabis issue here in the UK is an irritation to the government and as thats our primary source of material on the Canna Zine, I guess that makes us a government irritant. The cream they used to treat this irritant, beggars belief.
It was January 20th our last story was syndicated by Google News
By January 22nd I was aware no more of my stories were being picked up so I emailed Google News looking for some answers.
In the e-mail, which was polite and courteous throughout, I attempted to get to the bottom of why the Canna Zine had the plug pulled as Google are not normally a company who bow to bully-boy tactics.
Nothing came back in reply.
The following day I mailed them again.
Silence.
The third day I mail again asking direct questions about cleanfeed and by this time I'm well and truly pissed off with the whole thing.
Nothing!
It was the same with my hosting company.
Try as I may, to get some information out of them, their replies (I'm a customer and I was dealing with tech support so I guess they were duty bound to answer), referred only to technical possibilities, but even though I asked direct questions regarding Cleanfeed, I got no mention of the word back from them. It was as if I never mentioned it in the first place.
BT never even wrote back. Still haven't as we go to press (January 25th).
I mailed the whole of Fleet Street, with not a single reply even out of curiosity.
No one will talk about, or even acknowledge the fact I mention Cleanfeed. Its as if it doesnt exist.
Later on January 22nd the whole thing took a far more sinister turn, but I'll tell you about that next time.
Red Dragon
Canna Zine - Daily zine for the global cannabis scene - Join us!
http://cannazine.co.uk
Why would the UK government want to take a tuppeny website like the Canna Zine off-line? My guess is because we're publishing news which has never before been allowed.
The UK government has a warm and cosy relationship with the alcohol industry. An industry which contributes literally millions of pounds sterling into the UK economy every single year.
But the truth is out. This relationship causes over 10,000 deaths every year from alcohol related causes and its fair to say if alcohol were invented today, it would not be allowed a licence for sale.
But don't take my word for it. Check out some of the news which we have published on the Canna Zine recently and make your own mind up.