Senator Joe Lieberman is at war with the internet and with free speech, although he would vehemently deny those allegations.

An article in Truthout discusses not only Lieberman's request that Google take off all videos posted by radical Islamist groups that promote violence, but also his efforts to legislate some censoring of the internet in general.

Google, to its credit, refused Lieberman's request, citing free speech concerns and the importance of open debate.

Jim Dempsey, vice president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, has sharply criticized Lieberman for his actions.  "I think that Senator Lieberman's actions vis-a-vis Google were improper," Dempsey said. "A blame the messenger approach doesn't make sense as a response to radical violence. The notion that taking the videos off of YouTube will accomplish anything shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the Internet. Take the videos off of YouTube and they'll appear elsewhere.

Amen to that.

More troubling is the report published by the Senate Homeland Security Committee, of which Lieberman is the chair.  The report is entitled Violent Islamic Extremism, the Internet, and the Homegrown Terrorism Threat.

I read the report quickly, but what scares me more than the desire to censor the internet is this pushing the idea of homegrown terrorism.

The internet has a resilience that Dempsey alluded to in his quote.  Simply look at how the recording industry cannot seem to put a lid on file sharing.  It closes down Napster, Kazaa is born.  It closes down Kazaa and Limewire appears.  It pressures Limewire and floods it full of phony files, but no matter, Bit Torrent has arrived.

But this notion of homegrown terrorism troubles me.  The report does focus on individuals who convert to a violent and extreme form of Islam, but we all are familiar with the slippery slope of such terms as "homegrown terrorism" and "enemy combatant".  They are vague enough to defy specific definition, which means they can be weapons in their own right.

Once the government starts thinking of ordinary Americans as terrorists, which Alex Jones has been warning of for years, then we are in deep trouble.  Recent police hostility toward civilians pulled over for minor infractions seems to indicate that this process may have already begun.

Be vigilant.  Resist this idea of "homegrown terrorism" as a way of attacking anyone the government does not like or who holds views critical of its policies.

And be aware that the internet not only does have extreme Islamist propaganda on it, but it also has propaganda of many many stripes.  Check out FoxNews or many of the government's own sites.  

Propaganda is not the province of terrorists alone.  In fact, more frequently, it is the weapon of choice for governments.