The Bad Boys of the Internet
Living in China where the Internet is monitored and controlled really makes one appreciate a free Internet and freedom of expression. People here are put in jail for saying the wrong thing in a private email. The shameful thing for us Americans is that most of the technology that has allowed the Chinese Communist Party to monitor what people say online has been provided by US technology companies. These companies offer all sorts of rationalizations for providing the Chinese with these technologies but it really just comes down to making a buck at other people's expense - sometimes people pay with their freedom or even their life.
In the not quite so serious category we have our friends at Narus, a California-based tech company that has provided the Chinese with technology that allows them to cut off Voice-over-the-Internet communications with the outside world. Chinese and expats alike were using services such as Skype and Vonage to call outside China at cheap rates and on scrambled signals. The Chinese didn't like that. Their monopoly phone company didn't like it either. So in comes Narus earlier this year and sells the Chinese technology that permits them to cut off this information pipeline. Narus calls it "unauthorized Internet usage". I hope that Congress takes a look at this and considers a law to make it illegal for a US company to sell China or any other dictatorship a technology that limits free expression or communications with the outside world.
But the threat to free expression is not limited to dictatorships. We have the same looming threat in the US. It's called the threat to "Internet neutrality" and the threat comes from large corporations such as Verizon, the cable companies and the Baby Bells. In the last few years they have been working hard to buy enough of Congress to enable them to end the common carriage tradition of capitalism - at least as it is applied to the Internet. They want to own the Internet and charge both content providers and consumers higher prices to use the Internet. The result? The US has already fallen behind ten other countries (such as South Korea and Iceland) in per capita Internet access and access to high-speed broadband. South Korea's Internet access speeds are 100x the average in the US. For more info see here.
Living in China where the Internet is monitored and controlled really makes one appreciate a free Internet and freedom of expression. People here are put in jail for saying the wrong thing in a private email. The shameful thing for us Americans is that most of the technology that has allowed the Chinese Communist Party to monitor what people say online has been provided by US technology companies. These companies offer all sorts of rationalizations for providing the Chinese with these technologies but it really just comes down to making a buck at other people's expense - sometimes people pay with their freedom or even their life.
In the not quite so serious category we have our friends at Narus, a California-based tech company that has provided the Chinese with technology that allows them to cut off Voice-over-the-Internet communications with the outside world. Chinese and expats alike were using services such as Skype and Vonage to call outside China at cheap rates and on scrambled signals. The Chinese didn't like that. Their monopoly phone company didn't like it either. So in comes Narus earlier this year and sells the Chinese technology that permits them to cut off this information pipeline. Narus calls it "unauthorized Internet usage". I hope that Congress takes a look at this and considers a law to make it illegal for a US company to sell China or any other dictatorship a technology that limits free expression or communications with the outside world.
But the threat to free expression is not limited to dictatorships. We have the same looming threat in the US. It's called the threat to "Internet neutrality" and the threat comes from large corporations such as Verizon, the cable companies and the Baby Bells. In the last few years they have been working hard to buy enough of Congress to enable them to end the common carriage tradition of capitalism - at least as it is applied to the Internet. They want to own the Internet and charge both content providers and consumers higher prices to use the Internet. The result? The US has already fallen behind ten other countries (such as South Korea and Iceland) in per capita Internet access and access to high-speed broadband. South Korea's Internet access speeds are 100x the average in the US. For more info see here.
posted by Kevcham at 5:21 AM
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