Mark recently posted a video on facebook about net neutrality. As I was watching it, two of my ideas seams to crystallize.
First, what we (perhaps most) appreciate about the internet, our ability to appropriate it, is what has made it the most dangerous for large corporations. Because we are able to contribute our own content and access a multitude of other contents at our leisure, we develop a sense of control, and the impression that we have staked our own little territory.
Second, when it comes to the internet, we are all in a relatively equal playing field. This assumes we have electricity, a computer and a connection, and elementary education (reading, writing, math and computer literacy) and sufficient leisure time to contribute. Once these conveniences are secured, it is our own motivation to learn and contribute that controls our presence on the internet. each and every one of us can say just about whatever we want.
There is already, I believe, a certain concentration of ownership on the internet. The degree to which gootube, wikepedia, myspace, and such sites get traffic has made them major networks. The difference between these networks and NBC, however, is that they allow each and every one of us to submit content. Some might say they allow the people to keep control of the means of production (the educated and technologically equipped plebs).
Is it the commitment to universality that attracts us to these sights? The way we could almost believe they serve some altruistic goal? That would be a little shortsighted: they have made a fortune selling advertisements, the little messages that appear in header bars and columns.
This reminds me of the recording industry, another media cousin, who see the uncontrolled internet as a bastion of thieves. These older media outlets have not managed to overcome the rapid changes in technology. Like silent theatres that figured the “talkies” would never work, and then were lapped by those who believed in a noisier future.
So the question remains: do we as a society find a way to limit the control of telecommunications companies until the internet goes entirely wireless, or do we let the government force us into a “cultural revolution” of totalitarian ideological oppression?
Can we stay one step ahead of those who would tie us down?
