If a Martian was currently observing Western countries from afar, he or she (or whatever gender applies) would wryly surmise that we are far more comfortable with bemoaning the tyranny of foreign regimes than we are with protesting against our own governors. Many advocates of citizen journalism and anti-censorship activists (usually cut from the same cloth) have endlessly pointed to such countries as China, Burma, Iran and Cuba as perennial bugbears of online freedom of information and privacy.
Yet a worrying trend is gathering lightning-speed momentum. Democratically elected governments, from London to Canberra, are voting to enact laws which explicitly tell the polity they are a threat when they use the internet. This transition appears to have gone largely unnoticed by these citizens, to this writer at least. This is somewhat understandable. For quite a few years, we had it good. We had some semblance, or appearance, of relative online freedom. Then, much like a typically warm Australian summer’s day, the sky got dark very quickly and is now threatening to open up.
Freedom of information and communication on the internet is not, by definition, restricted to what you can and cannot access – it is also very much about what information can be accessed about you. As measures to access and retain web browser history are becoming (or have become) law in Europe, Australia and the United States, you may wish reconsider that politically incendiary or personally revealing blog post right now – for you may no longer be as anonymous online as you thought you were.
However, the true scope of such a scenario broadens to ever more disturbing horizons when these proposed data retention laws are examined under a spotlight. In his November 1 post on Zdnet, Australian journalist Stilgherrian has helpfully constructed a podcast with excerpts from a recent Senate inquiry explaining what these new laws will mean for all Australian internet users. It is recommended reading and listening for all who spend even minimal amounts of time online. It is also terrifying.
The effects of the erosion of privacy are ultimately psychological - if you know that your every online search, email, blog post, social network status update and photos are being logged, the resulting behavior is inevitable – you will start self-censoring yourself.
You’ve got an interesting point in ‘Be Afraid. We Have Been Warned.’ especially about the hypocrisy of a lot of democratic ‘protectors of free speech’ in regards to internet censorship. I agree with “Freedom of information and communication on the internet is not, by definition, restricted to what you can and cannot access – it is also very much about what information can be accessed about you” - a very valid point in the face of rising commercial and Government surveillance and logging of your internet activities. I think the whole erosion of online privacy is a very deliberate activity on behalf of Government’s and its not something anyone is particularly comfortable with. Having said that though, I think the fact that it’s an invisible ‘threat’ (as in, although the Government may be monitoring our browser histories, it doesn’t have any impact on our browsing experience and many may be largely unaware that it’s even happening) means that most people don’t really have a problem with it. I think it’s scarier also that Government’s can collect such information under the guise of ‘terrorism’ and ‘security’ (and occasionally ‘child protection’) while having no guidelines and rules on how they can use and access this information about us. That does raise the point of self-censorship; will we be punished for voicing our opinions? How often are Government’s and Corporations watching our online activity? What do they do with the information they collect? How is it stored? Who can access it? The whole concept is sufficiently vague, and I think that’s on purpose.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your views on the hypocrisy on the protection of free speech and internet censorship and the lack of anonymity online. The fact that we leave a digital trail wherever we go is terrifying and has only sprung up since the introduction of social networking sites such as facebook and twitter. It seems our only choice is to migrate to a technologically void society. Perhaps the amish.
ReplyDeleteIf we can find a non-religious and less bizarre offline community to live with, I'm already there!
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