Web Politics

The Web and online services have the effect of democratizing information. No longer can any government, company, ideology, or group control the ebb and flow of ideas, perspectives, or data. No longer is computing power the exclusive province of large government, large companies, large universities, or large anything.

As you can imagine, these are harshly disturbing thoughts in some quarters.

The Internet, says Al-Jumhuriya, a newspaper published by the government of Iraq, is "the end of civilizations, cultures, interests, and ethics." Singapore arrests anyone who encrypts e-mail, and since the government controls all servers, it also rejects encrypted e-mail from abroad. Vietnam simply denies e-mail access to most citizens.

Closer to home, despite the First Amendment, we see the enactment of the "Communications Decency Act of 1996." Passed by a willing Congress and signed enthusiastically by President Clinton, this law sought to ban "indecent" and "patently offensive" materials as determined by "community standards." It is likely that overseers in Iraq, Singapore, Vietnam and elsewhere were disheartened when the Supreme Court -- having read the Constitution -- unanimously rejected this law.

There is always someone, somewhere with a "good reason" to make us less free. Such folks want to "protect us" against a variety of evil thoughts, ideas, and expressions which -- it consistently turns out -- just happen to undermine the continuing power, governance, income, or superiority of those who favor such measures.

Thomas Jefferson said "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," a thought not be overlooked in this day and age -- or in any day and age.

Peter G. Miller is an image, marketing, and public relations consultant whose clients include selected national corporations, associations, and web sites. Mr. Miller can be reached at peter@boardroomarts.com