Who deserves the internet?

[cosmolinguist]

"If you can't work out how to get round the wikpedia blackout you don't deserve the internet. Took me all of a minute to work something out."

"Wikipedia emulates the effect #SOPA has on piracy - general population confused and blocked, but those intent on getting info do so with ease."

Stuff like this on Twitter is really enraging me this morning. "This is how geeks become libertarians," I grumbled to trinker. " 'I've got mine, now fuck you.' "

There just seems so much of this attitude that the Wikipedia blackout is an inconvenience to work around, rather than a wider political point. The person who said "only these people deserve the Internet" rankled me so much I had to reply. "I couldn't disagree more. Everyone deserves the internet. A lot of its power is in its accessibility to non-technical people."

This is all about who should decide who deserves the internet.

Maybe because I read this yesterday that's got me thinking about what a small proportion first-world people with the willingness, ability, education and time to hack Javascript is compared to the total number of users of the internet.

The reply I just got to my twitter says: "seeing as all that's required is an ability to google it's not a massive barrier." Clearly they don't know anyone like my mom, then! (She used to use Google for work, but last year I had to sort out something for her online because she was putting URLs into the Google search bar again.)

Anyway, that still isn't the frigging point. Wikipedia isn't going for Las-Vegas-casino-vault security here. It's not like their geeks don't know it's possible to work around the blackout. They're not trying to fend off hackers, they're on strike.

They're certainly not drawing a line on the wall and saying "you have to be at least this geeky to deserve the internet."

Comments

[eiffel_71]

Hello! Surfed onto you through an interest search for 'Pompey' (I'm a Portsmouth native) and find you a most interesting person and great read. Hope you don't mind me adding! *x*

[cosmolinguist]

I certainly don't mind. I love these random connections :) Have met some of my dear friends in similar ways.

I don't actually follow Pompey like I used to; they were an ex's team because he's from there. He did a lot to explain football to me, a dirty foreigner, when we first knew each other. And because this was when they had just gone from "FA Cup champions" to "lost Redknapp who's gonna steal all your players for Spurs" and tanking rapidly, there was something so familiarly comforting to me about that demise -- as I'm from a part of the U.S. whose small-market sports teams are always snatching failure from the jaws of success -- that I totally fell for them. I'd also read a lovely book, written by an American sportswriter who'd just moved to England and started supporting Portsmouth (it's called "Up Pompey" and I highly recommend it; it's funny and fun to read) which added a lot to their charm.

Anyway, thanks so much for the compliments! I've added you in return.

[uglybuffy.livejournal.com]

Agreeing so hard I may nod myself into a headache!!!

[plumsbitch.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES YES

[haggis.livejournal.com]

Where's that like button? Deeply agree.