November 19, 2007

The Internet is not always as free as we would like it to be. It is actively censored by hardware and software around the world. Some big players are in on it- Google agreed to help China limit searches. How did matters come to this point?

I can still remember the early days of the Internet, when we were confident that the Internet's capabilities of rerouting information, and the ease of posting it, meant that the free flow of information would be practically guaranteed. Evidently that was all a dream. People who obviously understood a lot more about networks than I do built hardware and software to stop access to information.

This is not to overstate the case, however. After all, in any conflict, there's a constant action and reaction. If you get defeated in one battle, you move to another spot and pick another battle. If one site gets shut down, it moves to another place.

Also, I think we were all a bit too idealistic in the early days of the Internet. The Internet, then and now, contained some wonderful stuff. Nowadays, the fruits of people's labor have given us word processors hosted on the Internet (Google.) This is an accomplishment nearly unthinkable back in the Web's early days. The Internet helps raise money for charities, keeps new and old businesses on their feet, and gives human access to incredible amounts of information about the history of our world.

I don't think, however, that many of us anticipated the dark side of the Internet. We didn't think enough to realize that if we did give humans unrestriced access to information, they'd abuse that capability, exploiting children and spreading terror and death throughout the world.

How did matters get to this point? Well, that's easy enough to answer, I suppose. Humans are evil.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be withdrawing from that harsh reality and retreating into my fantasy, ideal Internet of yesterdecade.

Oh, and don't forget to check this site next week when-(static from a censorship device suddenly renders the screen unreadable.)