The telecommunications bill

By Chris Gulker cg@gulker.com

Lord have mercy on us all.

The signing of the telecommunications bill - and the attendant attempts by posturing politicians to gain
popularity with an all-too-clueless electorate by restricting freedom of speech - is churning many
commentators into a near frenzy of outrage. 

It's an election year: one of the things some voters "know" is that this Internet thing is a dark hive of
cyberthieves and child pornographers who break into Pentagon computers whenever they're not busy
molesting innocents. Right-wing pols (some of whom are themselves no tyros at ripping off the
Pentagon and engaging in libidinous peccadillos) see this as an opportunity to garner points with the
folks back home ("Senator Slime fights porno on the Internet" ). 

Let's be clear - the Internet is abused by a few, but it carries far less "porn" than media like print or
video, and many, many more criminals use telephones to steal than the Net. And who's to say what
"porn" is in a land where American lawmakers define "porn" as the free discussion of women's rights ?

This is hardly the first time politician have sacrificed the good of the community for a short-term
personal gain, nor will it likely be the last. However, the Internet and its successors are far too
important to the future of this nation (and this planet) to long allow petty manipulators to guide its
future. 

The Net is by its nature the ultimate in democracy, permitting every citizen to have a voice as well as
unfettered access to information. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has already organized the
blue-ribbon campaign and Web page blackout in response. Digerati like Howard Rheingold and Dave
Winer have lept into hypertext with commentaries, some of them inspired (my newest favorite
description of journalism is offered by Rheingold in the recent DaveNet edition). 

The ultimate defense against abuse of the Net is not legislation. Just like in our nation, it is the
willingness of the citizens to take active responsibility for their community that will decide if our course
leads to empowerment and equality, or disadvantage and abuse. Laws and courts and cops can only try
to straighten out messes after they've happened, and, like most human enterprise, they are not free from
error, mistaken judgments or outright manipulation. 

Clearly, we are fast approaching a cross road in this century's most crucial paradigm shift. As our
world moves from a reliance on atoms to a reliance on bits we must each shoulder responsibility if
justice is to prevail. If we shirk our responsibilities, if we are lazy, distracted or otherwise not equal to
the task, then, Lord, have mercy on us all.