Fear and Loathing on the Infobahn......
In the beginning was the Net. Academics used to it exchange obscure theories on semiotics. Defense contractors used it to bill the Pentagon for $500 hammers. I dare say the odd (expletive deleted) slipped through along the way.
Then there was the Web. A (expletive deleted) could be accompanied by a picture of a (expletive deleted).
Next there was an obscure Senator from Nebraska (a Democrat, no less!) who seeks to restrict the rights of the electronic community to use whatever (expletive deleted) language and graphics they want. His chosen vehicle is S 314, The Communications Decency Act of 1995.
Time magazine got its filthy feet in the fray by publishing an absurdly alarmist piece in June about "Porn on the Net". I won't refer to it again.
The electronic community, predictably, rushed to arms. Petitions were posted on pages in the outer reaches of Cyberspace.
"Sign to stop the Exon Bill!", they exhorted. I signed one. Actually, I signed about ten. Not being a US citizen made even this hollow gesture meaningless.
We're missing the point. The danger to freedom of speech comes not from a badly-drafted, unenforceable, wrong-headed piece of legislation sponsored by a publicity-seeking apology for a politician from NE (pop1.5 million, five ISP's in Area Code 402, none in 308).
I believe the threat is far more subtle, ill-defined and hence dangerous.
Let me explain.
As demand for Net access explodes, ISP's (Internet Service Providers) are popping up like mushrooms in (expletive deleted). As competition increases, price of access goes down. But the costs of provision (service personnel, hardware) for the ISP rise concomitantly.
Ergo, before too long there will be a big shakeout. ISPs which are undercapitalized will go out of business. Their customers will be taken over by one of the (bigger) local survivors. I suspect this pattern will repeat itself until the US is dominated by a half-dozen or so large ISPs.
We are in the midst of a rash of media mega-mergers. As the boundaries between media become fuzzy (and ultimately disappear), so companies like Disney will aim to dominate ALL media - including the Net.
The result is inevitable. Whitebread Web access. Conglomerates, while able to influence legislation through lobbying (for their benefit, not ours), are also vulnerable to threats of government legislation. In their relentless pursuit of Middle America's monthly Internet access dollars, the conglomerates will band together and formulate a "Voluntary Code of Conduct". No "bad language", no "erotica", no "subversion", no free thinking and expression. Nothing remotely "controversial". The big boys will try to enforce "family values" with a vengeance.
Private "Cybercops" will follow the most tenuous of links in the elimination of anything which could offend the apocraphyl 86 year-old grandmother in Gary, Indiana.....miscreants will have an "ACCESS DENIED" line embedded in their Internet BarCode.......half of the populations of New York and San Francisco will be cut off from their daily CyberFix.......... WebAddicts going cold turkey will clog the bureaucracy as they all claim disability......in what is billed as "The Trial of the Millennium", a "rogue" cop will be alleged to have "planted" a Best of Hustler file in the public_html directory of a middle-aged Afro-American in LA......
Perhaps I exaggerate. I hope so.
Offshore is an option - but how many phone lines can the Netherlands Antilles support? And who do you think supplies their satellite TV channels?
Who are the winners in this scenario? And who the losers?
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