photo credit: h.koppdelaney

The Internet is one of the best modern tools available for sharing information, creative expression and connecting around the world. However, drastic changes occurring on the web could see the rise of a new version of the Internet where websites are controlled by major corporations and media companies – turning web surfing into a somewhat passive (rather than interactive) experience that’s similar to watching TV.

Clay Shirky, an author who writes about creative expression in a connected age, recently appeared at Ted Talks where he spoke about the very real risk of personal expression and sharing online becoming regulated.

Listen to the program below.

[pro-player]http://youtube.com/watch?v=9h2dF-IsH0I[/pro-player]

Blogs and Creative Expression

From its outset, the Internet has offered a system of open publication where websites and blogs could be created and then read by potentially millions of others around the world. This challenged the traditional media model where, for instance, a newspaper would publish an article or a radio station would broadcast something for the “masses” to hear – to “download” this information into our minds – so to speak.

The creative talents, opinions and ideas of each individual were more difficult to express within this infrastructure. The Internet, however, changed all of that.

However, over the last decade the Internet has been changing. It has slowly transformed from a medium where anyone could post anything under the veil of anonymity, and information posted online was still somewhat on the fringe of society, not being taken all that seriously. However as modern media and educational institutions have begun to rely more and more on the Internet, content published online has gained credibility to the same degree as content found in print.

This movement seems to have caused a greater interest in making the Internet more official and controlled by authorities. The main issue that this has caused around the blogosphere in 2012 is the threat to creative expression that this regulation process inevitably causes.

photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

YouTube

For example, it is only recently that YouTube has become frantically pedantic about copyright infringement and removing videos that do not comply with specific terms and conditions. Furthermore, video sharing companies like YouTube go out of their way to promote more official channels, making it more difficult for individuals and new content publishers to get their ideas into the mainstream.

There are a number of video sharing sites that are edging towards offering subscriptions, video rental services and charges for downloading videos. The drastic increase in commercial advertising and vested interests in mainstream media companies has seen a number of websites turn into more of a “TV viewing” experience, rather than the interactive community-oriented experience that once was.

The Personalized Internet

Another issue that is worrying is the over-personalisation occurring on search engine websites. Search engines like Google have recently started showing results for search queries based on a person’s location, previous searches and other profiling information. The recent extended impact of social networks has propelled this personalisation even further, with some search engines moving towards showing results based on a person’s friends, previous “likes” or even interest categories.

The free Internet we all know is in danger of falling into the hands of large corporations who have no interest in such terms as “freedom” or “openness” – especially as we begin to see biased information that is displayed to us when we use supposedly objective search engines and directories. There are two main issues here: 1) information online is becoming biased towards particular sources, thus turning into a similar infrastructure to television and radio where information is broadcast to the masses, and 2) it is becoming more difficult for individuals to reach a broader audience with videos, articles and blog entries.

Jan 18, 2012 Protest

A few days ago thousands of websites (including en.wikipedia.org) went offline in protest of the proposed PIPA and SOPA bills that could give particular authorities the power to shut down websites that do not meet particular guidelines. Aside from the bias now seen in search listing and information present online, the number of websites taken offline by authorities is increasing more than ever as we enter 2012.

One of the core factors at the heart of this issue is mass media seeking to control a vast majority of digital content available online. Proponents of bills like SOPA assert that their agenda lies in protecting the creative rights of musicians, film producers, writers etc. from online piracy. But the truth is that many creators of such content themselves are in opposition of Internet regulation! Bands like Radiohead and Rishloo have relied on direct donations from their fans in the past, bypassing the mass media companies who aim to maximize their own profits. Over the last week Rishloo, in fact, posted a message on their band’s home page openly opposing SOPA.

The question arises as to whether proponents of these sorts of bills care at all about protecting the rights of the creators of multimedia content, or whether most merely care about thickening their own wallets. This is something that we must all think about when considering the future of the Internet as a medium for creative expression.

Further Reading

See The Trademark and Copyright Law Blog for more information about the worldwide Internet protest of SOPA and its effects. Another good article that followed the progress of this protest was published earlier this week: SOPA Blackout Aims To Block Internet Censorship Bill. [26] provides further support for the claims I made above, stating that content publishers do not care much for Internet regulation: “… we’re yet to meet a musician (those that own the IP) that actually agrees with it [SOPA].”. A thought-provoking blog titled “The Solution is the Problem” also mentioned how this sort of bill is a perfect example of governments attempting to over-reach their power to control the Internet as a whole. Another blogger, Cobus Burgers, also wrote a great article last week about how Internet censorship would inhibit self expression.

More

- What’s all this talk about PROTECT IP and SOPA breaking the internet?
- Significance of SOPA
- Take Action Against SOPA
- Stopping Internet censorship
- SOPA & PIPA Dead…Or Are They?