I work for the Internet

the-paradigm-shift:

Sergey Brin says he and Google co-founder Larry Page would not have been able to create their search giant if the internet was dominated by Facebook. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The principles of openness and universal access that underpinned the creation of the internet three decades ago are under greater threat than ever, according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

In an interview with the Guardian, Brin warned there were “very powerful forces that have lined up against the open internet on all sides and around the world”. “I am more worried than I have been in the past,” he said. “It’s scary.”

The threat to the freedom of the internet comes, he claims, from a combination of governments increasingly trying to control access and communication by their citizens, the entertainment industry’s attempts to crack down on piracy, and the rise of “restrictive” walled gardens such as Facebook and Apple, which tightly control what software can be released on their platforms.

More on the battle for the internet

Revealed: US and China’s cyber war games
Washington’s plan to beat web censors
China struggle to regain control of the internet
How open is your internet? An interactive map

The 38-year-old billionaire, whose family fled antisemitism in the Soviet Union, was widely regarded as having been the driving force behindGoogle’s partial pullout from China in 2010 over concerns aboutcensorship and cyber-attacks. He said five years ago he did not believeChina or any country could effectively restrict the internet for long, but now says he has been proven wrong. “I thought there was no way to put the genie back in the bottle, but now it seems in certain areas the genie has been put back in the bottle,” he said.

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With the Internet uprising over the proposal of SOPA and PIPA still fresh on the mind of most users, it really does make one pause and seriously consider the Internet in regards to government regulation. Is there a need for government interference? Where does the cross roads between law, the digital world and reality intersect? Do Internet issues (cyberbullying, trolling, cyberstalking, piracy) only become relevant when they begin to have real world effects? Or is even allowing it to get that far a sign that more needs to be done? Up until this point the growth of the Internet has been grossly unchecked to develop as it would for good or for evil. We lament over stories we hear of the intense Internet regulation at work in countries like Syria and China, and cry that any step taken that even remotely reminds us of the government imposed Internet regulations in those countries runs the risk of whipping us into a crazed frenzy about our freedoms and our rights.

Although I dare say the American government may never be so bold as to enforce those manner of tactics, one cannot help but wonder. For all of our complaints about the often unethical behavior running rampant throughout the Internet, many of us are content to just let it go and let that be a problem for someone else to worry about- if it doesn’t concern us, it doesn’t matter. And perhaps it is solely because of this callous indifference that the Internet as a whole remains unchanging.

But will the day come when too much is enough? Will the day come when we allow ourselves to download one more song illegally, when we pirate one more movie, when we troll one more site, when we innocently ‘cyber stalk’ one more person- is the day coming when the government may finally decide that enough is enough?

According to HelpGuide.Org, Internet Addiction, otherwise known as computer addiction, online addiction, or internet addiction disorder (IAD), covers a variety of impulse-control problems, including: 

• Cybersex Addiction – compulsive use of Internet pornography, adult chat rooms, or adult fantasy role-play sites impacting negatively on real-life intimate relationships.
• Cyber-Relationship Addiction – addiction to social networking, chat rooms, and messaging to the point where virtual, online friends become more important than real-life relationships with family and friends.
• Net Compulsions – such as compulsive online gaming, gambling, stock trading, or compulsive use of online auction sites such as eBay, often resulting in financial and job-related problems. 
• Information Overload – compulsive web surfing or database searching, leading to lower work productivity and less social interaction with family and friends.
• Computer Addiction – obsessive playing of off-line computer games, such as Solitaire or Minesweeper, or obsessive computer programming.

With this outline, it’s not hard to believe that in some way or another, we are all suffering from an online addiction. Through the use of mobile phone aps, and the ease of Internet Access, its not that hard to fathom that a fair share of us would fall into one of these categories. We are constantly drawn back to the online world- for keeping up social contacts, for maintaining work relationships, seeking information and research, or just to have fun. Many however, are quick to disregard Internet addiction as a serious issue, a not so innocent mistake considering we now live in a increasingly digitized world.

The site not only clearly defines what constitutes having an Internet Addiction, but how you may be at risk. Despite the maybe knee jerk reaction to disregard IAD as a serious disorder, it is definelty something worth mulling over. The Internet is a medium through which we can recreate, re-imagine ourselves, and in many ways it is a tool through which we fulfill our fantasies and act out on desires we ordinarily could not in real life.

That said, once we get knee deep in these illusions, its not hard to believe that it can be hard to get back out again.

CNN Tech: Arizona Law On Trolling

Last week I read on article on a newly proposed Arizona Bill that was supposedly targeted at online trolling. Considering I posted today about online trolling, I figured this was relevant to that conversation.

As I have browsed the Internet, a majority of the opinions concerning this bill have been negative, and simply brushed off as another ill founded government attempt to ‘censor’ the Internet. Since the day the entire Internet rebelled and succeeded in halting proposed government legislation to do just a thing is still fresh int he minds of many, I am of the personal opinion that at the moment anything remotely related to the Internet and legislation is viciously attacked. That said, I have linked to the CNN Tech article on the bill that outlines some of what the proposed bill would and wouldn’t do.

Here’s the quote from the bill that has caused the most uproar:

“It is unlawful for any person, with intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy or offend, to use any electronic or digital device and use any obscene, lewd or profane language or suggest any lewd or lascivious act, or threaten to inflict physical harm to the person or property of any person. It is also unlawful to otherwise disturb by repeated anonymous electronic or digital communications the peace, quiet or right of privacy of any person at the place where the communications were received.”

Although I can clearly see where the cause for concern lies, I still cannot help but acknowledge that despite its flaws, the proposed bill is a fairly decent attempt at halting cyberbullying. There is definitely a need for something like this to be put into effect. These days it is no longer enough to just rely solely on the good nature, sensibilities and the moral compass of Internet users. I have interacted with my fair share of users who have none. All this effort may have its faults, I cannot help but feel as if it is a step in the right direction.