Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Travis: Frrrrreeeedddoooommm...of information.



Let me start off asking you a quick question, “how's your Internet?”, no really, how is it? Do you enjoy being able to go anywhere you want, downloading whatever you want, reading whatever you want? (I.e. The Filibust)
Well enjoy it now, because there are several gigantic entities that don't want you to be able to do so.
As we sit here at our computer, on our beloved neutral Internet, broadband providers are attempting to limit the access to the Internet sites that you go to everyday. Companies that provide both Internet and Televison are advocating for the censorship of their competitor's websites. For example, if you use verizon for internet and TV, they would very much like to censor sites such as Netflix, because their watch instantly option is a competitor. Corporations are looking to control the information that you and I take for granted. Even more so, think about having AT&T broadband, and being unable to compare prices to TimeWarner because AT&T blocks their website. Hopefully the FCC will not bow down to their advocacy as they do in nearly every other aspect of their bureaucracy.
Another massive entity looking to control to how you use the web is no other than the U.S. Government. Here is a quote from President Barack Obama himself:
you’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank that high on the truth meter. And with iPods and iPads; and Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — (laughter) – information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it’s putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy.
So information is putting pressure on our democracy? Please! The freedom of information IS democracy! The freedom to believe what you want, formulate and opinion how you want, WRITE what you want, thats Freedom!
Now the President does not list “the Internet” explicitly, but he does go on to state every form of new media, except for the Internet. Regardless, its obvious that he is writing about bloggers, and any other sort of information provider that he does not see as truthful. Which begs the question if we can't choose what information to believe, because obviously were too stupid to process what is fact and what isn't, then who does? The government? News corporations? Institutions? The Internet empowers the individual, and is the epitome of freedom. Several forces don't want it to because its their chance to control another portion of our lives.
What do you think? Do companies have a right to control what sites we go to? Is information on the inernet a “distraction” from truth? Filibust.

16 comments:

  1. First off I'd like to say how crappy that is that you only let Carr's post sit on top for 2 and 1/2 hours

    secondly I don't understand why we need to have internet providers anyway. run fiber optic cable everywhere telephone line is then scrap all that worthless telephone wire melt it down and turn it into something that is useful to this country.

    thirdly I agree with my president all that stuff is way too much for my tiny civilian brain, I need the real stuff spoon fed to me from the government I mean look at North Korea, we need to shoot to be more like that type of information stream. Feed me only the information you think I need and take my pay check and toss it in the communist pot so I don't have to worry about all that complicated stuff.

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  2. Just to play devil's advocate, I'm going to ask you to revisit Obama's quote and put particular emphasis where he says,

    "information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation"

    He could be saying that we are using this access of information as more a form of intertainment, rather than tools for our lives. After sitting through a lecture, how much information you were given could you convey to somebody else? Now sit through a few minutes of ESPN and see how many stats you can regurgitate.

    The real question is, are we using our freedom wisely?

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  3. Obama is obviously smarter than you or I so it makes sense that only He can decipher what is appropriate for us to read and listen to. Thank you Dear Leader

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  4. I don't think it matters how we use information, its ours for the taking in a free democracy. We can use it wisely, or stupidly, it doesn't matter, the point is that we decide either way.

    To provide better context, here is Obama on some other internet related issues:

    *The Senate, with Obama's approval and signature, passed "The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act" which gives the President the authority to shut down the internet without congressional approval, at any time, for up to four months.

    *The appointment of Cass Sunstein to the cabinet, who believes that "we must doubt whether, as interpreted, the constitutional guarantee of free speech is adequately serving democratic goals.”

    The internet, and all forms of media, should be a trough for everyone to chew...even if some of it is, admitedly, slop.

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  5. I guess I don't see President Obama's statement as offensively as some others do. I feel that it is more of an opinion on how technology is being used or even advice on how it could be used, not as how laws will change to force us to use technology in certain ways. And honestly, I think it is a good point. We are, and ought to be, free to use these technologies however we want to. The truth is, however, that we aren't using them to our full capabilities to enhance our understanding of the world. Maybe we don't want that, and maybe we just want to work on our Facebook farms. I'm wondering what our Founding Fathers would have done with this kind of information and technology at their finger tips.

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  6. I don't think that the government would or could ever regulate everything that we do on the internet. I agree that some websites need to be shielded from us (such as how to make bombs, etc.) but a majority of information should be left up to the reader, meaning that I should be responsible for what I believe and what I do with the information given to me. If I want to read a blog about how Obama is an alien, and then believe it, that is my choice.

    However, I think there is a problem with how much personal information is out there for anyone to see. It can be scary how much information you can dig up on someone if you have their name and perhaps a city they live in. That is something that I wouldn't mind if someone stepped in a regulated.

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  7. By the way Brandon, I really enjoyed how you (presumably) accidentally capilatized "He" in reference to Obama. Typically that is only reserved for Jesus, but if you have such a high opinion for our President, who am I to dissuade you from showing such reverence.

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  8. I see the issues between Google and China and it just worries me. I don't believe America is incapable of applying such censorship policies as China. I believe that the 1st Ammendment is something that we will always have to fight for because our individual voices are so powerful, that it seems inevitable that people would want weild such power.

    With the Bush administration's Patriot Act, and the Obama adminstration's ability to gather cell phone records on anyone without a warrant (see ref. below), I believe we aren't anywhere near China, but its not out of the question either.

    http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/04/scholars-reject/

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  9. I really enjoy Kacie's insight. However the question of how much information is too much information is far too broad anymore. How much information is relevant? Is who the "Situation" hooking up with a relevant issue to your heart of hearts? I believe that by making information an addiction we have made ourselves worthless.Now this accusation is a tad bit harsh and I understand your initial reaction. I am reminded of an old saying, "you are what you eat". Well because we are consuming massive amounts of the stuff daily are we not gorging ourselves? How has the world changed in the past 10 years? everyone has grown cumbersome with the thought of losing their identity, people reading their blog and getting into some sort of trouble. So now the world is flooded with useless information. It is really hard for me to avoid a Noah's ark stab here but who is driving the boat? Well the people that enable us to do what we are doing now but the analogy grows because now there are three different arks. They all have something the other ones want and they are willing to destroy each other to get it even if it means draining the ocean.

    As a nation we are fortunate enough to have corporations that dictate the market rather than countries like China that is fearful of almost all social media.

    The economic backlash that will be felt is one that will hurt more than help though. That is scary. Just like the internet itself the information market is also swollen that it will pop.

    I do not agree that governments should be able to squabble over public properties both intellectual and physical. I guess some things are better left to reasonable compromising people with standards.

    Don't tread on me....

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  10. It wasn't on accident, just wanted to pay my respect to Dear Leader.

    He brings us an abundance of gifts, including Gov't Health-care and expiring Tax Cuts. He makes the Oceans Recede and the Planet Heal. He's "Saved" thousands of jobs, my goodness where our current 10% unemployment would be without Stimulus!

    All of these blessings while living on a shoestring (multi)Trillion Dollar budget. Hope and Change.

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  11. My statement was meant to be more like Alan's first comment, I just didn't sum it up as well as he did.

    Considering your comment to be a bit cheeky Brandon, I'm just wondering if you're referring to expiring the tax cuts to the wealthy or you meant to say where he gave tax cuts to working families? And that trillion dollar budget is more like a shoestring when you have every government funded organization asking for more but wanting to pay less on taxes. He's not perfect but he's not magical either.

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  12. Todd, while I agree with you for the most part that too much information is useless and that too many people consider useless knowledge a must have. The government should not intrude on americans rights to engage in useless information "gorging" as it was referred to earlier in the conversation.

    There is however a large need for people to wake up and realize that the government is not taking control, we are giving it to them. We delete the useful gigs in our minds to make room for worthless status updates and "tweets. Kind of like removing abbey road from your ipod to make room for the new justin bieber album....

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  13. By choosing to extend the Bush Tax cuts (Which by the way were Tax Cuts for EVERYONE, not just the "Rich"), Obama isn't giving anyone a tax cut. To give an actual "tax cut" he'd have to lower them below current rates. He'd be simply choosing to not increase taxes on people because those tax cuts are currently in place. He's deciding between keeping the status quo,or raising taxes. There isn't another outcome here.

    If he does not extend them, this would increase everyone's liability including those under the $250k range (even though he promised to not raise taxes on this group a million times while campaigning)

    By the way, regardless of how rich or poor you target, you don't EVER raise taxes on anyone in a down economy. Just a disaster, and would cause unemployment to be even more atrocious than it currently is. Who do you think does the hiring in this country? Hint-it isn't people making under $250k

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  14. Well Brandon and Kacie,
    I think we are getting a bit off of the topic here. Honestly, I would say that I don't know enough about the situation to enter into that particular debate one way or another, but I'm just curious about how either one of you comes across your information. I would really like to be more informed on the topics surrounding policy, economics, and things like that, but I've had trouble finding a good source. Do either of you have ideas for me to look in to?

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  15. Alan, I'm a finance major and I work in personal finance for a living so I'm a little into it if you couldn't tell :)

    It may seem somewhat off-topic, but to me they are connected as my Freedoms include how much I am taxed.

    Wall St Journal, Forbes, Fortune, Fox Business, and CNBC are some pretty good sources of information regarding the economy and how current legislation may impact it. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office)sometimes is reliable, but even though their tag-line is
    "nonpartisan analysis" I feel a bias in some of their conclusions.

    In my opinion these sources far outweigh analysis you'll see from AP or a Newsweek type. Their agenda is what's best for the markets and the economy, whereas some other outlets agenda is what's best for their preferred candidate/party.

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  16. Alan "The Mediator" struck again!

    You're right about going off topic but my inner five year old was reacting last night. I'm not thrilled with everything that has happened in this administration but I'm really tired of hearing crap about our elected leader.

    I got the tax information from a political course I took in the spring. Our prof handed us information from multiple sources claiming to be on different sides and some falling pretty well in the middle. What I do know is that my mom got a well deserved tax break this year and that I don't feel bad for the doctor I worked for who couldn't go on his third ski trip to Aspen in two months.

    I also know that the government is a business and we can't expect to receive any funding if we also expect to continue to have tax cuts. I can't go into NY & Co and choose five items as well as what I want to pay for it.

    On topic: No, it's not okay to take away our access and I agree with Brian, it's not going to happen. We won't let it.

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