Governments are increasingly searching for ways to control and manipulate news and expression. What's more is that when the traditional channels fail, they try their hand at controlling Internet access. This control can take the form of shutting down sites or manipulating the Internet bandwidth available to users within the country at crucial times. What results is that the beauty of the Internet's vast "oneness" and ubiquitous accessibility ultimately transforms into inaccessible silos.
Yes, the Internet is growing. Yet it remains vulnerable to censorship. While traditional news channels with defined content hierarchies are easy targets for governments, what's proving harder to control is the self-authored content, which is de-centralized and proposes a "whack-a-mole" model to the governments. Case in point, consider the barring of foreign news coverage from traditional sources during and after the Iranian election. This control inspired the populace to use their mobile phones to capture images, to use Twitter and Facebook to report what was happening to the outside world, and to help organize themselves inside the country. The most iconic image of last year was the death of a young women, Neda, from a sniper's bullet, all captured by video on a mobile phone. For effective communication, users' content needs to be found by the right audience—whether that is through SEO or social networks. As a result, many are opting for an account with these aggregators instead of their own unique domain name. Unfortunately, these outlets of communication are becoming more centralized. Many are consolidating (being bought—such as YouTube's acquisition by Google) or struggling to find a working revenue model to exist (i.e., Twitter). As outlets disappear or become more centralized, governments will have an easier time quelling the chorus of voices.
Yes, the Internet is growing. Yet it remains vulnerable to censorship. While traditional news channels with defined content hierarchies are easy targets for governments, what's proving harder to control is the self-authored content, which is de-centralized and proposes a "whack-a-mole" model to the governments. Case in point, consider the barring of foreign news coverage from traditional sources during and after the Iranian election. This control inspired the populace to use their mobile phones to capture images, to use Twitter and Facebook to report what was happening to the outside world, and to help organize themselves inside the country. The most iconic image of last year was the death of a young women, Neda, from a sniper's bullet, all captured by video on a mobile phone. For effective communication, users' content needs to be found by the right audience—whether that is through SEO or social networks. As a result, many are opting for an account with these aggregators instead of their own unique domain name. Unfortunately, these outlets of communication are becoming more centralized. Many are consolidating (being bought—such as YouTube's acquisition by Google) or struggling to find a working revenue model to exist (i.e., Twitter). As outlets disappear or become more centralized, governments will have an easier time quelling the chorus of voices.
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