Thoughts about Internet Freedom

[Marc Perkel]

I think all of us are on the same page when it comes to freedom on the
Internet. But there are other constituencies that see things
differently. The difference in viewpoint is about values.

Here's the way I see it. The universe has been evolving for the last
13.7 billion years. Life on this planet has evolved into here we are
today. But who are we - where are we going - and what does this have to
do with the Internet?

What makes us different than the other critters inhabiting this planet
is that we have evolved the ability to communicate. Humanity has formed
a mental network involving billions of minds working together. First we
started with language. Then we developed written language allowing
information to be passed between people who are not in the same location
or time. Then the printing press was a giant leap forward. Then there
was radio - television - computers - all expanding the human
communication network. And now we have the Internet - which is a network
taking us to places we can hardly imagine. The Internet is part of human
evolution. It's the most significant step that any species have ever
developed.

Humanity is at an inflection point where we are transitioning from and
evolved species to where we can and will take control over what we will
evolve into. Unfortunately our technology is leading our understanding
of who we are and what role we will have in the universe and we continue
to progress.

It is imperative to all of humanity that Internet freedom must prevail
in order for us as a species to be as good as we can be. Internet
freedom is as basic as talking - as writing - as thinking - as
breathing. It is an extension of our collective minds.

There are those who have other priorities. Governments want to keep
control of their little kingdoms. But these nation states are just all
so temporary. And then there's the money interests. Who is going to make
a buck off of the web and how do we protect intellectual property from
piracy. Yes there will be crime on the Internet.

But what is it that's really important here? is it important for
governments to keep secrets from the people by shutting down Wikileaks?
Or is it more important for people to learn the truth about what
governments are up to? Wikileaks has been accused of a lot of things but
they haven't been accused of publishing information that isn't true. Do
we want to live in a world where the truth is illegal and lying is
required? That's not the future that I envision.

When a dictator wants to hold onto power in the decade what do they do?
The shut down the Internet. That's because the Internet is the way we
hold governments accountable. Governments exist to serve the people -
not the other way around.

We live in an age where corporate interests are expanding all over the
planet and they have a lot of money to influence governments. Here in
the United States our Supreme Court declared corporation to be people.
But corporation aren't people. All the decision showed is who their
corporate masters are.

The Internet can be a tool of ultimate freedom or ultimate repression.
Can you imagine what it would have been like in World War II if today's
technology were in the hands of the Nazis? But even though they were
defeated there's nothing that prevents something like that from
happening again, except the will of the people to make sure that no
government gets that kind of power.

This is what I see as the stakes in the balance of power between freedom
and oppression and freedom must win. The way I see it governments
shouldn't even be at the table let alone in control.

The bottom line for me is this. The freedom of humanity and the future
of humanity is more important than government. law, corporations,
intellectual property, law enforcement, religion, or money. So it's up
to us to draw the line and not let the debate move from values that are
more important to values that are less important. We have to make the
case that humanity owns the Internet and we're not going to let
governments and corporation take it away from us.

Marc Perkel
First One
Church of Reality
Keeping it Real