Sanguine Tenacious Tidings

Do Corporations Want to Rule the World?

The Sunday News!

This week, it's been reported that Russia is considering blocking access to the employment-oriented social networking site LinkedIn because the site is in violation of a rule requiring data on Russian citizens to be stored on servers inside the country. What do you think about that, and what role do you think governments should play regarding what websites their citizens should be allowed to visit?




This is a sticky subject isn't it? I checked out LinkedIn on https://Wikipedia.org .In this situation Russia is probably trying to protect its citizens. You know the world isn't a safe place right now for anyone.

Corporations are trying to break down country boundaries. I believe there will always be countries. The internet is the easiest place to forget boundaries and just be people. One of the most important stories I read online in the year 2000 was a story about a Canadian, who regularly conversed with someone in the United Kingdom. One day they were talking on a forum. The two men had never met.but they were friends. The UK man had a heart attack while typing. Before he passed out on the floor he typed his distress to the Canada person. The Canada person grabbed his phone called the UK was connected to an emergency service who was able to locate the person through the website and arrived at the house and a life was saved.

Criminals attack people online all the time. Over the years there are going to be lots of changes to the internet. So far we are still free to come and go as we please except for the underground that is being watched for interference to human rights.

I tried to understand Russia 's reasoning. LinkedIn is a business website that is trying to raise its ratings right now. There is a deal in the works for resale to Microsoft. LinkedIn is not complying with the law that Russia has enacted.

Microsoft may be more open to complying with Russia if the sale goes through. China, Russia, USA, Canada, all these Governments feel a responsibility for protecting their citizens within reason. Sometimes, over the years the USA has issued warnings to citizens about visiting certain parts of the world. Mostly, people go to those places anyway.

All social websites keep information about the people who use it. I don't know enough about where that info is kept but it seems understandable to keep it in your home country where you can access it according to need. What are Russia's motives? That is a question I can't answer. Maybe someone out there knows more about Russia than I do.

Personally I question LinkedIn's motives as well.. They are corporate and that may be as much of a problem as countries who try to use the internet for espionage. The world is getting hung up on human rights vs. citizenship and how it all plays out on the internet.