The Internet was created on the basis that information could be shared among many computers, and at no cost. Today, the capitalist approach is slowly taking over, as more and more websites require subscriptions, fees, or memberships at a cost. The World Wide Web is slowly becoming a market for business. Many companies operate solely online, such as PayPal, EBay etc. Many entrepreneurs have realized this opportunity and have taken advantage of it. However, some sites have chosen to provide services for free, such as Google, YouTube, Wikipedia etc. Companies such as these could be charging for their services, but choose not to (for now at least). The capitalist approach is slowly taking over the Internet…literally.
Corporate companies are now proposing a different way to make profit. Currently, no company, organization or group actually “owns” the internet. Websites are owned by individual parties, but the web in which they are connected is not owned by anyone. Companies are now looking to buy out the web itself. A company like AOL Time Warner would have control as to what content would be hosted, who could and could not see the content and when, and how much one would pay to do so. An entire new market will be created which never existed before. It would be like charging citizens for every step they take. As long as the law permits it, an entire new market would be created. A corporation would control where you could and could not go, how much you would have to pay to go there, and when you could and could not go. This is essentially the opposite of net neutrality. Corporations will lock certain documents, band certain web pages etc. all at a cost to unlock or access them, when they would otherwise be free.
The mainstream media has not raised this issue at all, even though it is a very real possibility in the near future. The awareness on the issue comes from underground media sources, word of mouth and online groups. The majority of backlashers are students and youth. In order for these corporations to gain ownership of the web, they must be legally allowed to do so, under a government bill. That is exactly what is taking place at the current moment. Bill C-61 is an online copyright law which seeks to copyright all online material, including currently free material such as online articles etc. as property of a corporation. If you access the information illegally, you are essentially violating copyright law and can be legally punished, even if the content was posted free of charge. If I post my own blog, a corporation has the right to lock it, and charge others to access it, even though I created it and posted it. Bill C-61 will inevitably kill culture, as all of our media will be controlled by corporations, in their best interests. Public opinion will be suppressed, and culture will be fabricated by large corporations. Expression, originality and diversity will be compromised as a result of this bill.
There are Facebook groups, blogs, and online communities opposing this bill, with intentions to put an end to it. These corrupt government officials and corporations must be stopped in order to preserve the Internet as we know it.
“Every industry affected by copyright today is the product and beneficiary of a certain kind of piracy. Film, records, radio, cable TV…The list is long and could well be expanded [including the addition of the internet]”. – Lawrence Lessig (61)
Works Cited
Lessig, Lawrence. Free Culture The Nature and Future of Creativity. New York: Penguin (Non-Classics), 2005. Print.
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