Open source internet browsers linked to illegal anonymous behaviour - Politician

Manach

"Fine Gael TD for Limerick, Patrick O' Donovan has called for tougher controls on the use of open source internet browsers and payment systems which allow users to remain anonymous in the illegal trade of drugs, weapons and pornography. Deputy O’Donovan has written to the Oireachtas Communications Committee, of which he is a member, asking it to investigate the matter." - link.

This was reported on the tech news site Slashdot. Some of the poster comments are interesting.

catallus

He's right! Close the internet!

Bipolar Joe

Yeah, down with open source browsers! Like Firefox, I guess.

tommyboy2222

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YozC8yFrZKI

minidazzler

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

Yeah, down with open source browsers! Like Firefox, I guess.

presumably he does actually mean firefox, but specifically the version of firefox that tor is bundled with.

Sir Arthur Daley

catallus wrote: »

He's right! Close the internet!

Switch it off after 9 o clock news. :rolleyes:

partyatmygaff

Unsurprising from a man who doesn't seem to have even half a clue what open-source means. The Oireachtas Communications Committee would do well to understand modern technology and communication first before making rash, reactionary decisions on technologies they've no experience of.

syklops

minidazzler wrote: »

presumably he does actually mean firefox, but specifically the version of firefox that tor is bundled with.

Not the version of firefox that allows integration with tor?(as in all of them).

Usually I like Fine Gael, but I really cringe when they say anything related to technology because it is always so far wide of the mark. Not that there is any party that have their finger on the pulse tech-wise.

Why does he focus on Open Source? You can go onto craigslist with internet Explorer and trade drugs, porn and weapons.

shruikan2553

You can normally ignore anything an irish politician says about technology. Ask them to actually explain what open source means and they'll probably say its free.

Karl Stein

Dope.

catallus

In fairness to the guy he is most probably just mouthing off on this issue for it to gain some traction before it comes before a house committee. It is just the usual political horse-play that goes on, much the same as the wind-turbine/water-meter thievery/pylons and whateveryou'rehavingyourself. Not to be taken seriously by anybody who might have an informed opinion on the thing because such an opinion is going to have very little effect on what is going to happen in any case.

K-9

minidazzler wrote: »

presumably he does actually mean firefox, but specifically the version of firefox that tor is bundled with.

Don't be getting all technical with stuff like facts for politicians and internet stuff. Sure aren't people downing Chrome, singing Opera, chatting to pidgins and setting fire to foxes. Time was a Gimp was something by Tarrantino in Pulp Fiction, now you can get one on yout computer. God be with the days Playboy was banned.

syklops

shruikan2553 wrote: »

You can normally ignore anything an irish politician says about technology. Ask them to actually explain what open source means and they'll probably say its free.

Its what hackers create in dingy basements and garages. Which is somewhat true, though in ireland we don't really have basements, or garages which are comfortable to code in in months May to September.

This is probably the result of a Micosoft/Oracle/Intel funded lobby group who didnt get the memo 5 years ago that Open Source is ok.

AirBiscuit

Too bad Google Chrome is derived from an Open-source browser (chromium)

Opera master race!

syklops

catallus wrote: »

In fairness to the guy he is most probably just mouthing off on this issue for it to gain some traction before it comes before a house committee. It is just the usual political horse-play that goes on, much the same as the wind-turbine/water-meter thievery/pylons and whateveryou'rehavingyourself. Not to be taken seriously by anybody who might have an informed opinion on the thing because such an opinion is going to have very little effect on what is going to happen in any case.

Before? He has written to the Oireachtas for more attention to be paid to it. I don't know what they will do with it. Probably commission a report written by over the hill former headmasters, who after 18 months of research will conclude that Usenet should be banned.

Although I don't deny that this could be a journo who has gotten it arse-ways.

How is it, that we have been living in the information age for nearly 20 years, that it is so easy to believe, in fact, assumed, that journalists and politicians have no earthly clue what they are talking about?

Jimoslimos

And people wonder why we get so many Indian call centre scammers.

catallus

The vast majority of people in the world would have little idea about what issues such as these are about. It is just a politician talking; not something to get worried about; the civil-servants will pass it along to the tech-boys and they hopefully will know what's what.

MonaPizza

syklops wrote: »

Not the version of firefox that allows integration with tor?(as in all of them).

Usually I like Fine Gael, but I really cringe when they say anything related to technology because it is always so far wide of the mark. Not that there is any party that have their finger on the pulse tech-wise.

Why does he focus on Open Source? You can go onto craigslist with internet Explorer and trade drugs, porn and weapons.

Not only that but you can go to an internet cafe, log on with IE, create any number of accounts then surf dodgy sites to your heart's content, make various threats online etc and then log off and leave. Who's going to know who you are / were?

sheesh

I still think I will write a an email to him to express my frustration. everyone should.

hinault

MonaPizza wrote: »

Not only that but you can go to an internet cafe, log on with IE, create any number of accounts then surf dodgy sites to your heart's content, make various threats online etc and then log off and leave. Who's going to know who you are / were?

Better hope that the intercafe CCTV isn't working

MonaPizza

hinault wrote: »

Better hope that the intercafe CCTV isn't working

baseball cap, shades and fake beard.
Chung Lee behind the counter ain't gonna give a fcuk. He's too busy mass producing DVD's of movies to care.

just_be_nice

Pockets too; I know people who use their pockets to conceal drugs and illicit payments. We need tighter control on pockets.

nagilum2

This has now reached the front page of HackerNews. Yay Ireland! :rolleyes:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7060238

BBJBIG

And just how do you control the Deep Web ?
Which is vast, anonymous and stuff is paid for in Bitcoin.
Short of shutting down d'Internet.

Bye, Bye Google - Amazon - Apple - Facebook etc.

http://www.sickchirpse.com/deep-web-guide/

They can't get anything right - household charges, water charges, Bank Regulation,
Building Regulation, Bankers, Bondholders ... and, the list goes on.
You couldn't make this stuff up !

Anudder Oirish politicshun spaking Gnomish thru his hole !

toyotaavensis

I have to say well done to the people of Limerick for electing this clown.

Bipolar Joe

toyotaavensis wrote: »

I have to say well done to the people of Limerick for electing this clown.

I agree. Every other county manages to elect someone totally competent literally all the time!

J_E

Politicians usually just don't get current technology...Ireland looks stupid to the rest of the world as a consequence

moxin

sheesh wrote: »

I still think I will write a an email to him to express my frustration. everyone should.

Pointless, send by pigeon instead as the clown probably doesn't know what email is.

gctest50

Way to go to discourage techy companies considering coming here - releasing a statement like that without even getting it checked over

Deputy O’Donovan has written to the Oireachtas Communications Committee, of which he is a member, asking it to investigate the matter.

Gomer Pyle

I think, himself and Seamus "we have a lot of clouds" Tiernan, are just so far ahead of the rest of us we just don't see their genius

Eight Ball

BBJBIG wrote: »

And just how do you control the Deep Web ?
Which is vast, anonymous and stuff is paid for in Bitcoin.
Short of shutting down d'Internet.

Bye, Bye Google - Amazon - Apple - Facebook etc.

http://www.sickchirpse.com/deep-web-guide/

They can't get anything right - household charges, water charges, Bank Regulation,
Building Regulation, Bankers, Bondholders ... and, the list goes on.
You couldn't make this stuff up !

Anudder Oirish politicshun spaking Gnomish thru his hole !

The Irish electorate voted for them, suck it up.

gandalf

For a country that sees itself as the Silicon Valley of Europe we have an awful lot of IT illiterates representing us in Government. Maybe Patrick should should educate himself about the topics he is commenting on before commenting on them. Then again if you are unfortunate enough to check his website out it consists of nothing but regurgitated press releases with the headlines changed to include "Patrick O’Donovan welcomes" or other such vacuous tags.

As someone already said for a country thats trying to attract Techy FDI some of our politicians are not very clued in and certainly are not saying the right things to attract these companies.

AtomicHorror

I predict there will be, a measured, carefully thought-out response to the issues of drugs, weapons and pornography, most particularly as they pertain to the internet. Experts will be consulted and listened to with an open mind. Lobbyists will be heard with some scepticism, with their motives and qualifications taken into consideration. The vested interests of our elected decision makers will take a back seat to rationality.

In short, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about.

Knasher

Botulism wrote: »

Too bad Google Chrome is derived from an Open-source browser (chromium)
Opera master race!

Unfortunately opera have decided to move to Googles branch of webkit, which is the open source rendering engine that also powers Apples safari browser.
Firefox is also obviously disqualified.

So the only browser he approves of is internet explorer.

Of course as soon as he realizes that you can proxy internet explorer in the exact same way that you can proxy open source browsers, he will probably decide that needs to get investigated too.

sheesh

moxin wrote: »

Pointless, send by pigeon instead as the clown probably doesn't know what email is.

yes but lets go with the process and see if he replies. like most people he probably uses the internet a lot and has no idea of how it works. he is young enough to know better but doesn't he is not some old fogey who never got round to learning about computers.

AirBiscuit

Knasher wrote: »

Unfortunately opera have decided to move to Googles branch of webkit, which is the open source rendering engine that also powers Apples safari browser.
Firefox is also obviously disqualified.

So the only browser he approves of is internet explorer.

Of course as soon as he realizes that you can proxy internet explorer in the exact same way that you can proxy open source browsers, he will probably decide that needs to get investigated too.

Not the version I'm using.

dgt

Does he expect us all to use internet explorer or netscape communicator? Sure feck it, broadband and the likes are the middleman to the devil, lets make joe soap use bog standard acoustic coupler modems.

Remember, speed kills and the internet is no exception....

Twats :rolleyes:

UCDVet

This stuff is *literally* like passing a law that says PI shouldn't be 3.14159.....or that 7 shouldn't be a prime number.

Stupid politicians....

Khannie

When I read stuff like this I'm embarrassed for them tbh. *cringe*

Bog Standard User

minidazzler wrote: »

presumably he does actually mean firefox, but specifically the version of firefox that tor is bundled with.

he must be using mozzarella firefox

Phoebas

Manach wrote: »

"Fine Gael TD for Limerick, Patrick O' Donovan has called for tougher controls on the use of open source internet browsers and payment systems which allow users to remain anonymous in the illegal trade of drugs, weapons and pornography. Deputy O’Donovan has written to the Oireachtas Communications Committee, of which he is a member, asking it to investigate the matter." - link.

This was reported on the tech news site Slashdot. Some of the poster comments are interesting.

The link to the FG website isn't working (taken down in embarrassment maybe), so all I have to go on is an excerpt from Slashdot.

An online black market is operating which protects the users’ anonymity and operates across borders through the use of open source internet browsers and payments systems which allow users to remain anonymous. This effectively operates as an online supermarket for illegal goods such as drugs, weapons and pornography, where it is extremely difficult to trace the identity of the buyers. We need a national and international response to clamp down on this illicit trade

His terminology is wrong, but presumably he's on about TOR and the likes of BTC and Silk Road.

It seems to me like a legitimate thing to be raising to the Oireachtas Communications Committee, even if he hasn't much of an understanding of the technology or of the issues it raises himself.

UCDVet

Phoebas wrote: »

The link to the FG website isn't working (taken down in embarrassment maybe), so all I have to go on is an excerpt from Slashdot.


His terminology is wrong, but presumably he's on about TOR and the likes of BTC and Silk Road.

It seems to me like a legitimate thing to be raising to the Oireachtas Communications Committee, even if he hasn't much of an understanding of the technology or of the issues it raises himself.

Yeah - but TOR and BTC both work the same way - using maths to facilitate encryption.

There is no way legislation will ever be effective.

syklops

Phoebas wrote: »

The link to the FG website isn't working (taken down in embarrassment maybe), so all I have to go on is an excerpt from Slashdot.

You can find it here. The reason the link doesn't work is it was originally in the 2013 archive and they moved it.

His terminology is wrong, but presumably he's on about TOR and the likes of BTC and Silk Road.

It seems to me like a legitimate thing to be raising to the Oireachtas Communications Committee, even if he hasn't much of an understanding of the technology or of the issues it raises himself.

Not having much of an understanding of technical terminology is one thing. But using completly the wrong terminology to address the Oireachtas Communications Committee, is irresponsible. By all means draw attention to the perceived problem, while admitting you don't understand the ins and outs, but to make that statement that had so much wrong in it is just embarrassing.

Lenin Skynard

Cydoniac wrote: »

Politicians usually just don't get current technology...Ireland looks stupid to the rest of the world as a consequence

That just sums up Irish politicians and the internet for me. I never fail to get a belly laugh out of that especially around 00:13 when she says "Fraping! Where you're raped on Facebook!"

You couldn't make it up.

darkpagandeath

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Unsurprising from a man who doesn't seem to have even half a clue what open-source means. The Oireachtas Communications Committee would do well to understand modern technology and communication first before making rash, reactionary decisions on technologies they've no experience of.

They would not be using some form of Linux to run some of the government servers :P you know open source is bad

L.Jenkins

Reminds me of this bright spark and his remarks regarding Cloud Computing.

http://www.politics.ie/forum/education-science/176419-clouds-confusion.html

Most Irish Politicians reactions to Technology... :P

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=88455426&postcount=6383

darkpagandeath

Itzy wrote: »

Reminds me of this bright spark and his remarks regarding Cloud Computing.

http://www.politics.ie/forum/education-science/176419-clouds-confusion.html

Most Irish Politicians reactions to Technology... :P

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=88455426&postcount=6383

Places with lots of rain I nearly cried :P

L.Jenkins

Yup. Some people just need to be led into a field and shot, repeatedly.

Cienciano

Remember yer one Fidelma Healy Eames reckoned playstations and xboxes should have a chip installed that turns them off after 2 hours
That's still my favourite. Every time you read that sentence, 1% of your brain cells die


http://fidelmahealyeames.ie/2011/08/03/cap-required-on-time-spent-computer-gaming-%E2%80%93-healy-eames/

Phoebas

UCDVet wrote: »

Yeah - but TOR and BTC both work the same way - using maths to facilitate encryption.

There is no way legislation will ever be effective.

Perhaps - but the legislature should at least come to that position themselves.

The one specific point he made in the post was calling for "enhanced international co-operation" (in the context of the US taking down the original Silk Road). So, he's not necessarily calling for some magical legislation that stops people encrypting their communications, but there may be things that could be done - if we wanted to do them - around information sharing or taking action against sites or people when they are identified.

syklops wrote: »

By all means draw attention to the perceived problem, while admitting you don't understand the ins and outs, but to make that statement that had so much wrong in it is just embarrassing.

Maybe slightly embarrassing for him, but better to raise the issue and expose his own shortcomings than not say anything for fear of being embarrassed.
[Personally, I'm more embarrassed by the Slashdot contributors who launched into a childish tirade of drunken Irish stereotypes]

mikom

Knowledge economy 'innit.