Save for the a bit nihilistic attitude about certain things, Peter Sunde has a good point about the internet. Our lives, through the internet, are subject to an increasing amount of corporate control and scrutiny. Yet there's almost nothing we can do. These corporations have an immense power over the political system and just our daily lives are so dependent on them. This is why standing up against them is such a challenge. Be if we collectively remind ourselves that we are their breadwinners, users are their currency and without us there is nothing maybe something will change.
The most thought-provoking sentiment of this article was perhaps "But still we think of the internet like this new kind Wild West place, and things are not in chains yet, so we don’t care because everything will be OK anyhow." Especially because, for a long time, I did think that the internet was a frontier that has still yet to be speculated; however, as Sunde points out the internet has long been conquered and "corporatized". And, even worse so, the internet has become a breeding ground for large monopolies like Facebook and Google. This also goes hand-in-hand with Sunde's feelings that people don't see the problems, so people don't feel connected to it.
I think what is happening to the internet is very insidious and needs to be stopped. People do not realize how every day we are losing more and more rights to our digital lives. And, while I agree with Sunde's points that people don't see the problems and that people feel that there's still hope for improvement of the internet, the biggest problem is not complacency, but the fact that people don't identify that their digital life is just as important as their physical lives. People do not validate or recognize that what we do online holds value both online and in the material world. I think some people realize that we are losing rights online, but write it off because they feel that their digital world is lesser and separate from IRL. I think this casual disregard will come around to bite many of us in the butt.
Save for the a bit nihilistic attitude about certain things, Peter Sunde has a good point about the internet. Our lives, through the internet, are subject to an increasing amount of corporate control and scrutiny. Yet there's almost nothing we can do. These corporations have an immense power over the political system and just our daily lives are so dependent on them. This is why standing up against them is such a challenge. Be if we collectively remind ourselves that we are their breadwinners, users are their currency and without us there is nothing maybe something will change.
ReplyDelete-Fabio
The most thought-provoking sentiment of this article was perhaps "But still we think of the internet like this new kind Wild West place, and things are not in chains yet, so we don’t care because everything will be OK anyhow." Especially because, for a long time, I did think that the internet was a frontier that has still yet to be speculated; however, as Sunde points out the internet has long been conquered and "corporatized". And, even worse so, the internet has become a breeding ground for large monopolies like Facebook and Google. This also goes hand-in-hand with Sunde's feelings that people don't see the problems, so people don't feel connected to it.
ReplyDeleteI think what is happening to the internet is very insidious and needs to be stopped. People do not realize how every day we are losing more and more rights to our digital lives. And, while I agree with Sunde's points that people don't see the problems and that people feel that there's still hope for improvement of the internet, the biggest problem is not complacency, but the fact that people don't identify that their digital life is just as important as their physical lives. People do not validate or recognize that what we do online holds value both online and in the material world. I think some people realize that we are losing rights online, but write it off because they feel that their digital world is lesser and separate from IRL. I think this casual disregard will come around to bite many of us in the butt.