Here's an enduring myth; the Internet is a huge free for all, under no type of control, where David gets to take on Goliath and win every day.
Let me make this clear, this is not some goofy conspiracy theory. The fact is that there is no such thing as a totally free, independent and equal Internet. Aside from the fact that the domains are in fact controlled by a quasi independent organization, ICANN (although to be fair, the US government has shown admirable restraint in allowing this not for profit organization to plough its own furrow), every government is in fact able to determine the access to information it allows its citizens online.
This control (or seeming lack of it) does vary by jurisdiction. Many years ago, when the Saudi Arabian government finally recognized that it could no longer hold back the tidal wave that is the world wide web, it allowed the Kingdom's citizens access to the Internet, but with the caveat that the government (through the Saudi Telecommunications Company) was to be the sole service provider. This afforded them the opportunity to determine what information their citizens had access to, and what 'objectional materials' (like democracy, womens rights, etc.) it could shield them from.
The People's Republic of China is similarly resistant to the idea of a free and open Internet for its citizens. With the collusion of the major search engines (Yahoo, Google, etc.), it is the final arbiter of what information people within that country can access.
Even we in the West have our online activities curtailed by our governments, albeit more subtly. Witness the recent laws passed in the US that curtail the ability of financial institutions to process payments made to online, offshore casinos. Recognizing that they had no jurisdiction to go after the enormously lucrative offshore casinos (which are typically registered in friendly jurisdictions like Gibraltar) directly, and under pressure from an unlikely coalition of conservative groups and US based gambling interests, they have gone after the middle man in the transactions. This new law has in effect destroyed this industry in the US, and while you may or may not agree with the concept of online gambling, it strikes me as a sad development that can only signal the shape of things to come in the way we are able to determine what we as individuals choose to do online.
Let me make this clear, this is not some goofy conspiracy theory. The fact is that there is no such thing as a totally free, independent and equal Internet. Aside from the fact that the domains are in fact controlled by a quasi independent organization, ICANN (although to be fair, the US government has shown admirable restraint in allowing this not for profit organization to plough its own furrow), every government is in fact able to determine the access to information it allows its citizens online.
This control (or seeming lack of it) does vary by jurisdiction. Many years ago, when the Saudi Arabian government finally recognized that it could no longer hold back the tidal wave that is the world wide web, it allowed the Kingdom's citizens access to the Internet, but with the caveat that the government (through the Saudi Telecommunications Company) was to be the sole service provider. This afforded them the opportunity to determine what information their citizens had access to, and what 'objectional materials' (like democracy, womens rights, etc.) it could shield them from.
The People's Republic of China is similarly resistant to the idea of a free and open Internet for its citizens. With the collusion of the major search engines (Yahoo, Google, etc.), it is the final arbiter of what information people within that country can access.
Even we in the West have our online activities curtailed by our governments, albeit more subtly. Witness the recent laws passed in the US that curtail the ability of financial institutions to process payments made to online, offshore casinos. Recognizing that they had no jurisdiction to go after the enormously lucrative offshore casinos (which are typically registered in friendly jurisdictions like Gibraltar) directly, and under pressure from an unlikely coalition of conservative groups and US based gambling interests, they have gone after the middle man in the transactions. This new law has in effect destroyed this industry in the US, and while you may or may not agree with the concept of online gambling, it strikes me as a sad development that can only signal the shape of things to come in the way we are able to determine what we as individuals choose to do online.
This post first appeared on Global Marketing Solutions From GDMI, please read the originial post: here
