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  • From: B <beeline AT mindspring.com>
  • To: InterNetWorkers <internetworkers AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Freedom on the web
  • Date: Sun, 07 Jan 2001 00:49:40 -0500


Calvin Powers wrote:
<...>
> Hmmmm, I don't think so. Just as there is a place for both free music
> on the internet (MP3.com, Napster, etc) and paid-for music (CDNow,
> pick your favorite CD store), there is also a place for both free
> information, sponsored information, and commercial information.
>
Let me point out that the paid-for music owners don't want free music
available, and are doing what they can to close it down. They are making
their online entry with great reluctance, as well. The Web is still
fresh and new, still open, still has a lot of techies and hobbyists
playing with it and contributing to it out of pure techno love and a
desire to create, or from the drive to build their own online soap box.
Their labors are providing the "free" content. Reminds me of the early
days of the radio.

We haven't even quite figured out what "content" could be, although
we're certainly improving our tools at a dizzying speed. If it becomes
too complex to deliver Web content, I think you'll see far fewer
hobbyist sites, which alone will give a certain type of power to
commercial interests. I'm hoping for simpler production capability --
applications like Dreamweaver and Fireworks may ultimately allow the
voices of the normally powerless to be as loud as the voices of the
opinionated wealthy.

I'd hate to see the 'Net become like the radio, though, owned lock,
stock, and barrel by corporate interests, carefully regulated, offering
very controlled communication. I want it to remain a small-town center,
where folks are free to shop and visit and show and tell, to discuss the
issues of the day, tell dirty jokes or enlightening stories, and
sightsee in groups.

I'd prefer that corporate interests view the Web as just another piece
of real estate, a storefront sign and window, a catalogue and checkout
counter that augments their real-world real estate. Those with a message
to deliver should be able to set up their soapbox in this town square,
without fear of government reprisal. Those with a story to tell or
picture to show should be able to sit on a park bench and spout, or
kneel on the sidewalk and draw.

> The key to keeping the internet free is preserving _everyone's_ right
> to publish sites on the web. Now, the day the ruling class starts
> talking about the need for "responsibility" on the web and the need to
> "license" people for publishing on the web is the day I start to get
> very worried about the freedom of cyberspace.
<snip>

Ah yes, there's the rub. The idea of free expression is an American one,
and is not shared by most of the rest of the world. Even certain
elements of U.S. society has problems with certain expression. And the
internet is a global medium -- suddenly, it matters that France forbids
the sale of Nazi memorabilia.

Now, global groups like the WTO and the UN and other treaty-making
entities now have the power to touch the ordinary U.S. citizen's life --
your life -- more directly than ever before.

Nothing can stop our president from signing and our Congress from
approving treaties (or laws) that require all signatory countries to
define and forbid certain types of speech, or commercial activity, or
particular educational materials.... Or permit restraining activities
that "chill" certain speech.... And until someone pays and patiently
nurtures a successful challenge through the courts, folks could be fined
and go to jail for speaking out, or selling certain materials, or
explaining certain things. And folks could learn to watch what they say,
understanding that their discussion could be picked up by The
Authorities and Used Against Them.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.......

--
"B"ing mobile
=====================================
I always have more questions
Thank you in advance for your answers
=====================================
http://beeline.home.mindspring.com




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