The Information Age and Why Anonymous Makes a Good Point

Today I came across an open letter to the world that Anonymous put out online. Anonymous, for those who don't know, is a loose organization of like-minded "hackers" that have become best known for their distributed denial-of-service (DoS) attacks against those that they have identified as enemies of internet free speech. They have recently gained a great deal of renown amidst the ongoing WikiLeaks controversy. Their stance has always been to preserve open exchange of information on the internet, and today's letter eloquently explains why.

I highly recommend that everyone give the letter a good read. I'm sure many would be quick to write this off as a bunch of crazies just flying off the handle, but they bring up a very good point. There are two things that everyone should understand. First, a free and open internet is incredibly important and it is something that we take for granted every day. Secondly, it is very much at risk. 

The internet is how we get our information, whether that means seeing your friend's post about the chicken teriyaki they just man-handled via Facebook or reading first-hand accounts of protesters in Cairo. It is how we stay informed, connected, and organized. It is a tool that puts incredible power into the hands of the people, and we are reminded of that every day when we access the news. The protests spreading across the Middle East and North Africa - Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Bahrain, Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Yemen - are all connected in one way:  the use of the web and social media to coordinate and raise awareness. When revolutionaries became a threat to Mubarak's regime in Egypt, his first move was to cut off access to the internet. Twitter postings about the "Jasmine Revolution" in China prompted their government to start deleting all mention of planned protests in Shanghai and 11 other cities. And similar acts of online censorship can be seen in Syria and other countries. Here in the states, we are drowning in shit from media powerhouses that would rather talk about the Oscars and Charlie Sheen's arrest record than real news. How else are we to learn about what's going on around the world?

Poor Qaddafi has every right to be scared (www.ishr.org)

The scariest thing is that the fight for an open internet is going on right now within our borders. Many have likely heard of the FCC's recent action around net neutrality, something that Senator Al Franken recently referred to as "the most important free speech issue of our time." Internet providers are vying for the right to paid prioritization or even to outright block certain content. Imagine if Comcast allowed YouTube to pay for faster browsing or download speeds. Any up-and-coming competitors would be hamstringed by the fact that they don't have the coffers to afford the same privilege. As Franken asks in an editorial in the Huffington Post, what if Verizon decided to block Google Maps (a free app) on your phone in favor of Verizon Navigator, a paid service that isn't nearly as good? What if Comcast decided to block access to Netflix in favor of their more expensive Video OnDemand service? Hell, what if an internet provider with an agenda could prevent access to the website of a political party or candidate? The FCC, in a phenomenal display of ineptitude, put out a piece of legislation that actually opens the door for this kind of corporate control (at least over wireless networks) and proves their inability to protect our right to digital free speech. And while this is more anti-competitive than downright censorship, it shows that all it takes is a series of misguided or malicious political maneuvers to put us in the same unfortunate situation as that of China or North Korea.

So the question that remains is what we can do about this. As the letter from Anonymous so wisely states, don't sit on your ass. I would say this:  pay attention when you're mindlessly surfing the internet. Ask yourself, did I learn anything valuable? And is this something that I couldn't have easily learned elsewhere? Even more importantly, exercise your right to learn from and share with others online. Go to Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or your favorite blog and start saying or reading shit. Leave comments, update your status, post a URL to an interesting website or article, whatever it is just do something. For those who are really motivated, call your congressman or state senator and ask what their position on net neutrality is. What Anonymous is really saying is that nobody is going to keep the internet free but us. And some things are worth fighting for.