business, entertainment, stuff

Valentin

Share with us, very briefly, your personal opinion about internet freedom of speech and necesity to allow easyer / safer access to informations.

Francis

In many ways the Internet has proven itself a potential force for the radical democratization of society, but without strong safeguards we could find the power of the medium greatly curtailed. We who collectively form the vast Web community must remain watchful and act quickly to counter any attempt to limit the core principle of freedom of speech.

The Internet is an invaluable tool for the free exchange of information. Not only does it offer an equal platform for many varied voices to express themselves, but it’s also a vast storehouse of information from which we can learn and build.

To effect real social change, people need to be able to not just freely speak their minds, but to connect with each other and collaborate on the causes that they recognize as vital for both individual and social progress. The latest advances in web-based communication have made it easier to establish such movement building, with the proliferation of social networking sites, peer-to-peer file sharing, simplified digital content generation, and open source software.

So far the commercial interests who have been driving the technological improvements in the Web have for the most part recognized and honored the fundamental principles that fed its growth across the globe. The concepts of network neutrality and open access have given forward-thinking businesses exposure to ever wider audiences, and some have even discovered the possibility of generating cheaper advertising and entertainment content through crowd sourcing.

Because the driving motivator for a commercial entity is profit, however, we can’t rely on the goodwill of these businesses that currently control our access to the Internet. There are already legal battles looming over network neutrality, which could give providers the power to restrict subscribers from reaching certain content. The cable and phone companies who provide access at a cost are also fighting attempts by several municipalities in the US to provide free citywide WiFi, which would allow greater numbers to participate in the discourse.

Censorship can come in many guises, and there are of course forces political as well as commercial who’d like to trample our rights. In closed societies, inappropriate content is being filtered out, but there are other more subtle means for quieting dissent through legal and cultural intimidation, which appear all over the globe. Separately, struggling in isolation, we can’t do very much to counteract this. Collectively, armed with political will and awareness, we can ensure the Internet fulfills its potential.

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Francis Scudellari is the author of the blog Caught In The Stream, focusing on politics and culture. He is also a Chicago-based community activist, writer, and web designer.

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