Since it's inception, the internet has been a haven for free speech. It's an open system where anyone can log on and have literally countless different ways to express themselves to the world. Beyond that, it's also made it remarkably easier to find people around the world who share your beliefs. Beliefs that perhaps aren't as appreciated in your local community or social network. The internet has brought people from around the world together in ways that would have been incomprehensible just 25 years ago.
The entire globe has become a smaller, more interconnected community as a result. Services like Wikipedia allow access to an unprecedented amount of information in an instant. All one needs do is perform a quick search and receive access to a wealth of information on virtually any topic you could think of.
Services like MSN messenger, and Hotmail provided an unprecedented level of communication possibilities. No longer were there prohibitive costs in keeping in daily contact with friends or family that lived far away from you. You would simply log in and be instantly connected. Services like this have evolved even further with tools such as Skype which allows you to have face to face video chats with people from anywhere on the planet.
Sites like Youtube have provided amateur media creators to share their work with the world. A young fledgling director trying to have his message heard no longer has to mortgage his home and navigate the twisted world of talent agents and producers to get feedback on his creations. Now he can simply upload it to Youtube for all the world to see.
The unprecedented level of freedom of expression provided by the internet is perhaps the single greatest achievement since the invention of the telephone. It has literally changed our entire society, from business practices to personal relationships there are few aspects of life that the internet hasn't changed. The internet in itself is the very definition of freedom of expression. A system that derives it's success from the fact that it isn't regulated in any serious way.
Well, that's on the verge of changing. Governments around the world are starting to realize that the internet does something that they'd seemingly not considered until lately. It allows us, the people, to control the message. One could say that the media and the press do the same, but media companies can be influenced, and despite the popular belief that we have a free press, we don't. Our newspapers and news networks are owned by media companies. Corporations that no longer care about such lofty ideals as freedom of the press, or freedom of speech. They purchase news outlets seeing not freedom for the people, but a crafty new marketing tool to influence the very culture the press should be protecting.
Recently in the United States two pieces of legislation faced a harsh reaction from US citizens. SOPA and PIPA were being discussed, and very nearly implemented as law. These laws would have given power to media companies and the government to censor any message they didn't care for. The proposed laws would have made it possible for the government to shut down a website that had been accused of copyright infringement. Yes, you read that right. "Accused". There would be no due process, no investigation or hearing to determine if shutting down the site were warranted. No warrants, no witnesses required. Nothing. Plain and simply, the accused would have literally been guilty until proven innocent.
How does that affect you you might ask? After all, you don't have a website with infringing content right? It doesn't matter. Let's say, like myself, you occasionally blogged. Now, let's say that recently you had a bad experience with the local school board. We'll say that they suspended your child because he was of a particular religious belief. Horrible right? Well let's say that you decided to focus your outrage into an online explanation of what happened. Then, you log in the next day to find your blog removed. Having caught wind of your whistle blowing, the school board has filed a complaint stating that your blog was being used to share copyrighted information. Ridiculous right? Of course, they simply didn't like the message you were presenting the public. But it doesn't matter. The proposed laws would make it mandatory for your service provider to remove the site entirely. No investigation, no proof.
The potential for abuse of such a law is obvious I would think. So the American people took to their phones, and email accounts and let their representatives know in no uncertain terms that it was not acceptable.
Problem solved right? No. The same lobby groups that pushed for these laws in the US are pushing them here in Canada, with significantly less publicity I might add..
Take a look at the following link.
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6257/125/
The proposed bill C-11 would incorporate the same ideas into a Canadian law. Run a website aimed at disparaging Bell business practices? They can get you. Voicing complaints about Rogers poor service and internet throttling practices? One accusation of infringement and you're gone.
What really bothers me is that virtually nobody seems to realize that we're about to lose the internet. Contrary to what some believe, the internet isn't "owned" by corporations. It isn't controlled by companies, it's owned and controlled by the people. Us!
These bills aim to change that. They are literally an attack on free speech. And nobody seems to give a damn. In 5 years when you're no longer able to voice your opinion online, when every status update you submit to Facebook is first reviewed for content, just remember, you had the chance to save that freedom, and you didn't seem to care.
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