The Net Liberation Movement is a collection of dissident political groups united by the desire for a free, unrestricted net. Their main goals involve weakening the political agency of cybersecurity companies as well as decreasing funding for the ever-important BULWARK program. While they are listed as an official independent political party, most efforts of the NLM are involved in activism, petitioning, and protest against cybersecurity legislation.
History
The Net Liberation Movement was officially founded as a poltical party and activist group in 2090 when it sought political recognition for the election of 2092. Due to it receiving the necessary amount of political pledges from Kunari citizens, the Net Liberation Movement was given access to the election and recognition as an official independent party in Kunari City. In the 2092 Mayoral election, the NLM fielded Joe Apples, a prominent free net spokesperson and former television host. Apples was then subsequently announced as the primary candidate for the election of 2096, but was found deceased during the preliminary stages of his campaign which caused the NLM to pull out.
Having been wholly unsuccessful in official political ventures, the Net Liberation Movement has instead focused on grassroots activisim and lobbying Kunari's local government. Backed, financially, by a circle of tech magnates, the NLM funds protests and aids in running campaigns for candidates who advocate for a free net. These practices are not new as the NLM existed long before 2090, having been founded as an activist group in the early 2050s following a series of strict, anti-privacy measures passed by the KCMA in their attempts to further regulate the net and crack down on organized cybercrime. Originally, the movement was incredibly disorganized and disjointed, existing largely on internet forums and in encryped net space. It wasn't until the 2060s that members began to organize face to face.
Platform
The Net Liberation Movement largely calls for restrictions on net usage to be lifted, hoping to allow for a free, publicly-owned net that is less corporate in nature. The Net Liberation Movement shares much of the anti-corporate sentiment that many other left-wing parties of Kunari's political landscape hold. They also tend to promote egalitarian political structures and the defunding of public surveillance, calling for the "relentless stalking" of the common people to cease.
While the Net Liberation Movement is largely a civil and unproblematic organization, some groups associated with the NLM have been known to act in illegal and dangerous manners. Cybersecurity centers have been sabotaged, firebombed, and hacked into a multitude of times by individuals who claim association with the NLM. The untimely death of Joe Apples caused rioting and looting in New Atecapa. In response, the KCMA deployed riot control to the district for the next few months, leading to conflicts between local dissidents and Kunari's police force.
While members of the NLM may call for less net surveillance and government/corporate intervention, they do not, generally, desire for regulations around artificial intelligence to be lifted, seeing unregulated AI as a dangerous prospect that should still be feared. However, they do argue that fear around AI has led to the government overcorrecting and overregulating the net as a whole.
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