Internet has influenced our generation more than any other technology. Internet is the only purely democratic entity that exists amongst us, as independent groups of people and institutions have helped its growth. It is the only entity which is by, for and of the people. The free and open source movement and the growth of Internet go hand in hand. Internet has also enabled people with tremendous knowledge, more than what printing press did for the Renaissance. No wonder governments and corporates across the world have become suspicious of the Internet.
Governments across the world are getting desperate to regulate, censor and restrict the free and open nature of the Internet. In popular belief, the mobile manufacturers and search engines were playing spoilsport in attempts to keep internet free and open. While mobile manufacturers are misusing their ability to control what their users are able to see, the search engine as virtual gatekeepers of internet are increasingly listening to the governments and corporates and unlisting numerous websites, thereby causing great harm to the cause of internet.
India recently discovered a third player, who is playing spoilsport- the Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Well, the ISPs, especially in India are big corporate houses. Recently Torrentz, Vimeo, Piratebay, and many other websites were blocked by Indian ISPs. While Reliance internet services stated that it is due to an order from the Department of Telecom, Airtel said, that the blocks were as per Court Orders. Airtel did not even reveal which state High Court passed the order! It is interesting how governments happily chose not to speak on the issue, as if the ISPs were taking these steps by themselves.
Blocking entire websites and technologies on grounds of presence of some copyrighted material is preposterous. In legal terms, blocking a website is as much as a function of safeguarding a private right as much as it is interfering with the right to access of the general public. The matter is debatable and must certainly be debated. But bringing websites down overnight, on anonymous grounds is ridiculous!
The John Does of the world fail to understand the nature of the Internet. They fail to understand that denying access to parts of it is technically impossible. They fail to understand the freedom of Internet itself has enabled massess beyond their control. No wonder the popular hacktivist group Anonymous launched denial of service attacks against websites of the Indian Supreme Court, the All India Congress Committee and Copyright Studios to stage their protest.
Governments and corporates, unless the likes of dictatorial China, can’t control the Internet. Of course, they can put many hurdles in the way, but those who are determined enough will get through. When the UK government ordered ISPs to block The Pirate Bay, traffic to the site was up by 12 million unique visitors the day after. New and curious casual Internet users became familiar with the legal use of bypass softwares and proxy addresses. Many blocked sites are already being optimized to work with proxies, and the proliferation of bypass software is growing at great rapid rate. The Pirate Bay is even considering a project where they could keep their servers in a drone aircraft and out of any country’s jurisdiction to escape prosecution 😉
Governments fail to understand that Internet, today represents the Citizen media. Citizen media has always been active, much before the times of Internet. People’s media is as old as civilization. It has always been there, while mass media came up only after renaissance. The dis-empowerment and injustice reinforced and sustained through mass media has always been resisted by civil initiatives for creating alternative modes of communication and information. While mass media capitalizes on change, people’s media triggers change which can break authoritarian and repressive structures.
Despite its encompassing nature, people’s media has thrived. Intellectuals today see it in the form of Internet, but it has much deeper roots. Citizen media has the proven potential to escape controls of any kind. People’s media has proven itself to be capable of surviving as semi-legal, illegal and underground communication arenas in the face of hostility. They are virtually impossible to destroy! Like they say, means may be destroyed, but ideas are imperishable. Ideas are timeless!
सौरभ राय | Sourav Roy 
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