INTERNET FREEDOM MUST NEVER BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED
[SOURCE: Detroit Free Press, AUTHOR: Susan Crawford, University of Michigan]
[Commentary] The Internet has the power to change human lives and spur economic
growth, but that power is threatened around the world. Why? Because the
Internet threatens established industries of all kinds -- governments,
traditional telecommunications companies and traditional entertainment
companies -- and they are fighting back, using every tool they have. That's why
I started OneWebDay, which was observed on Saturday. It seemed to me that we
needed a global Earth Day for the Internet, to make sure that everyone
understands the threats to our shared online future. This is not just about
censorship. Access itself is a challenge in many parts of the world. Less than
4% of the population of Africa has Internet access. Prices are cripplingly high
in many countries, because incumbent network operators fight competition. We
think of India as a place of entrepreneurial energy, but their network
providers have caused Internet access to stagnate and prices to stay at
bewilderingly high levels. The Internet is threatened in the United States as
well. We don't have the ubiquitous high speed Internet access that President
George W. Bush promised for 2007. Speeds are slow, prices are high, and
competition is nominal. The cable and telephone companies that control access
are strongly interested in creating Internet "fast lanes" for their own
proprietary material -- and they have the market power to pull this off. We are
at risk of encouraging the development of a sclerotic, dumbed-down, cable TV
version of the Internet. Economic growth and open access are closely tied, and
we should be very wary of mortgaging our online future. Every day brings more
evidence that the Internet can shed light on human rights abuses and
dramatically lower barriers to political activism. The Internet is unlike
anything we've seen before; it's the largest idea-generating, participatory
communications medium in history. We must not take for granted all of the
empowerment, economic growth, free speech, and other benefits the Internet
makes possible.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070923/OPINION02/709230530/1068/OPINION
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