Thread: Internet is prey for governments

Old media, such as terrestrial radio and television, were as distributed as the thousands of stations and antennae from which broadcast signals emanated, but all internet traffic must pass through government and corporate-owned choke points.

Radio and television are most certainly government and or corporate-owned check points.

Originally Posted by JDJarvis

Radio and television are most certainly government and or corporate-owned check points.

That may be the case to some extent. BUT not everyone has the access to communicate individually through radio and TV.

This protest in Egypt was orchestrated via Facebook and Twitter. Now that has happened, I have no doubt we will be hiring thousands more SS people to monitor FB and Twitter the way they do chat rooms and discussion forums. I think the organizational capability of those two media were completely overlooked. Egypt locked the barn door after the cows were out.

Originally Posted by Sunshine

BUT not everyone has the access to communicate individually through radio and TV.

That's exactly my case. The piece you quoted seems to imply there is a free democratizing force on broadcast media there isn't in the internet.

Egypt locked the barn door after the cows were out.

Yup, for the protection of all the citizens of Egypt ;-)

Originally Posted by JDJarvis

That's exactly my case. The piece you quoted seems to imply there is a free democratizing force on broadcast media there isn't in the internet.




Yup, for the protection of all the citizens of Egypt ;-)

From the article:

Old media, such as terrestrial radio and television, were as distributed as the thousands of stations and antennae from which broadcast signals emanated, but all internet traffic must pass through government and corporate-owned choke points.

Broadcast on the 'old media' only went one way.

Current media, and I am referring to email, has made for some rough goings in corporations. Previously when a disgruntled employee had to 'go through channels' the power they wielded as an individual wasn't much. Now in pretty much any workplace, employees can go directly to the CEO. Granted, he may refer them back to their supervisor. But little that was hidden in years gone by, is or can be hidden now.

Sunshine, the CNN article (the paragraph you quote even) implies there was more freedom for a democratized voice prior to modern "distributed media" as there is a government and corporate choke point on current new media, it simply ignores the reality that existed before (which you are clearly recognizing).

Yes governments have the ability to shut things down, when they scare carriers by threat or law. What we shouldn't have in a nominally free state are special laws and procedures which allow the president or other politicians to shut things down without judicial review.

Why is it that the new media is seen as something different than the old media?

While there are significant technological changes as we move through the different media there are several common facts about the media that remain constant.

One is that government will try and eventually succeed to control the media.

At one time the news media was wandering minstrels who would through song and dance dissipated the news of the day.

The government controlled that media to the extent that the stories were told in code. This is the origin of a lot of the children’s nursery rhymes we tell today.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary was Mary Queen of Scots for example.

Print media, electronic media like radio and TV was the same. Why should the internet be any different?

The more things change the more they stay the same.