What can and can’t you read and see?
Written on December 30th 2008, filed under Life & Work with 0 comments.
If it were up to the governments and various industries a large amount of websites would be blocked. The mere concept boggles the mind. How can democratic governments — many who criticise China for blocking parts of the web — even think, let alone talk about this.
The French surrendered (no surprises there) to a music industry that has failed to realise that the way it used to run its business isn’t the way its going to have to run its business in the future. A Belgian cabinet-member wanted to forbid blogger to talk about certain subjects after a blogger caught him drunk, singing and swinging at the tax payers expense. A British minister now wants to ban certain sites that have content that no-one should need to see. It simply boggles the mind.
The Internet has opened up the world more than the telephone and television combined. I can talk and listen to people all over the world, explore new, exciting ideas and view points. The only way this experience is guaranteed is by leaving the damn thing untouched.
I don’t care that you haven’t figured out that charging a ridiculous amount for a CD isn’t working anymore. I don’t care that you will find it harder to lie to the people who elected you. I don’t care you haven’t realised that people can decide for themselves what they will or will not read and see.
All of these are freedoms that are at the very core of our society. Freedoms that came at the cost of millions of lives and that are now, apparently, taken for granted
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