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State department is trying to censor online firearm speech

3K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  DaKnife 
#1 ·
Basically the state department is trying to use existing legislation and tweak it to make speaking about firearms online a punishable offense.

http://www.examiner.com/article/nra...s-to-censor-online-speech-related-to-firearms

According to the NRA, "online blogs, videos, and web forums devoted to the technical aspects of firearms and ammunition" could "become subject to prior review by State Department bureaucrats before they can be published." The State Department says it is simply clarifying existing rules regarding international arms trafficking, specifically, the NRA said, rules concerning "technical data" posted online or otherwise "released" into the "public domain."
That would basically be the end of UCC and most online discussion or videos. I doubt bureaucrats would enjoy much of our discussions here.

The State Department says it will accept comments on the proposed rule until August 3, 2015. According to the State Department, those who wish may send an email to DDTCPublicComments@state.gov with the subject line, ''ITAR Amendment-Revisions to Definitions; Data Transmission and Storage."
 
#2 ·
The intent is probably to regulate technical discussions or how-to videos for things like making a silencer, etc. However, I fail to see how the feds intend to enforce such a law, especially against non US citizens or people living abroad.

As for the impact on UCC.... tbh the forum really should be reorganized to make a lot of the discussions private (members only) anyway. Most forums have a small section (general discussion, new member posts, etc) as public, but everything else requires being a member. That would also alleviate some of the concerns about someone posting something that later ends up on a google search.

Id be happy to help answer any questions the forum admins might have related to such a move, if anyone needs help setting up permissions, etc.
 
#4 ·
Not a chance in that very hot place of these rules standing for any enforcement outside of weapons development and research for military purposes. And there it only stands due to the fact that releasing classified research materials is already illegal. Any attempt to enforce beyond that narrow scope definition of technical data will fail. The constitution prohibits ex post facto laws. Talking about guns, their specifications and so on is already widely discussed. The Genie is so far out of the bottle, the first court this hits it's tossed as violating the freedom of speech and being ex post facto.

And it is unenforceable. They tried this in the 90's, and despite it being forbidden for years to export any browser with greater than 40 bit encryption, guess what you found all over the world, browsers with 128 bit encryption. Every brand of browser was widely available across the world, the ability to enforce virtual borders has gotten far more difficult to enforce.

And the left appeals to the protections of the 1st far more often than the right. They no more want to "adjust" it than we do.
 
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