Virtual rights

There is lots happening to regulate use of the internet - and allow unwarranted surveillance of individual use of the medium. Rick Falkvinge has written an excellent piece that highlights the fundamental point that use of the Internet should have the same rights and protection as conventional media. Something that seems to completely have passed regulators by...

..but as it's written in Swedish I'll put my translation of it here:

"People talk of a the Internet being a lawless land with Internet advocates wanting different rules to those that normally apply "In Real Life".. but they are missing an important point - we want the complete opposite. We want the same rules on the net as apply outside the net.

Since the 1960s it's been possible to copy for example a poem or drawing and send it to someone through the post. It is absolutely forbidden for anyone to open a letter to see if it contains a photocopy of something, notwithstanding copyright. The integrity of the post is sacrisanct.
We demand that the same rules apply on the net as off it.

Since the 1700s it has been possible to send letters anonymously and act anonymously to drive social or political questions, send tips to reporters etc.
We demand that the same rules apply on the net as off it.

Since the 1850s it's been possible to get access to all current culture and knowledge without limits, even without paying for your own copy, by using a library.
We demand that the same rules apply on the net as off it.

It is completely tabu for the state or others to register who sends letters to each other or to monitor who reads what at the library.
We demand that the same rules apply on the net as off it.

Since roman times there has been full immunity for the bearer of messages. That's to say that the bearer has no form of responsibility for the content of communication carried between two other parties.
We demand that the same rules apply on the net as off it.

Ever since there have been post and telephone companies it has been absolutely tabu to try and restrict communication to or from specific adresses or telephone numbers based on any moral other viewpoint.
We demand that the same rules apply on the net as off it.

The lawmakers don't seem to understand that civil rights apply even to communication that citizens conduct on the Internet. That lack of understanding sets the whole concept of civil rights at risk."