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Internet Freedom of Speech
Technology and politics collide, a pattern that has repeated itself umpteen times throughout history. This time it is the Internet that has renewed the freedom of speech debate and as the mortals take ringside seats, the titans vie for strategic advantage.
But it is hard to single out just one major driver for the debate. Freedom of speech touches on reputations, ideologies, political agendas, morality, ethics, security, the law, social concerns, technology and last but certainly not least – money. Lots and lots of money!
It just so happens that the Internet is an ideal medium for mass communication so naturally it is at the centre of the debate. But with localized authorities policing the medium the Internet is subject to a myriad of custodians making a global consensus on the extent of freedom extremely difficult to achieve.
Technically, those opposed to freedom of speech face an uphill battle. The World Wide Web was actually conceived and built for the exchange of information so any censoring is in direct opposition to the intent of the original network design.
Further adding to the technical complexity faced by censors are advances in security such as packet encryption that makes it difficult to intercept and read information in transit. In fact, the list of technical challenges for would be censors is quite daunting but for the sake of brevity I will spare you the gory details.
It has always been interesting to me that the concept of freedom of speech should actually embrace the right to oppose freedom of speech. But pro-freedom groups would argue that it is not the opposition to the freedom of speech per se that is in question. It is the mandatory censorship of supposedly free mediums such as the Internet that ruffles the proverbial feathers and put governments, corporations and ideologies on a collision course.
In my opinion, however, the commercialization of open mediums such as the Internet has devalued the idea of freedom of speech. It just so happens that those fighting for the freedom of speech stand to gain by its widespread acceptance, and those opposed also stand to gain by its widespread rejection. As such, it is difficult to see just where chivalry begins and commercial interests end.
It is difficult not to sound cynical in my assessment of the raging debate. The irony is that the free technological medium that many of us want so much to prevail because of its ability to give the little guy a voice has been mostly overrun by the mighty dollar whose opinion echoes loudly and clearly across the globe. As governments argue their rights to enforce their version of suitable content, corporations strive to secure their portion of the online market. And as entire populations debate ethics, morality and social concerns I wonder if the word 'free' was not intended as a pun when, in the 21st century, the 'free' speech is so closely aligned to the mighty dollar.
