Protecting the Information Environment

Livingston poses the question,

"How does the nature of an information environment alter the nature of governance?"

But is the real question is how to protect the information environment.

 I believe we are living in a time where the governance boundaries are constantly being re-defined. Private business and corporations are often times leading issues in Internet governance.

The Internet’s power is undisputable—the information super-highway allows people from all over the world (well, those who have internet access and computer literacy) an equal playing field. Livingston provides examples of how the use of technology has empowered people to act from a grassroots level. From the Ushahidi project crisis mapping technology, to the blogosphere, that provides an alternative perspective to traditional media, the Internet is a huge platform. But will the hunger for profits end this free flow?

Net Neutrality—the FCC and legislators are constantly battling over how to govern the Internet. Last year the Daily Tech reported on a leaked proposal that would change customer on the number of web pages they visited, or charge customers per megabyte used. The information leaked also reported a plan to create their own social media sites and allow people to access these sites for free. This would obviously create more incentive for users to use the “Verizon social media site” for free, rather than others.  Imagine how your usage would change if you had to pay for each website you visited? Imagine how your research would be limited based on finical concerns.

When I lived in Kenya, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I had to pay per megabyte used. I would purchase a scratch card with a certain amount of megabytes “top-up” via my cell phone and plug in an external modem that accesses the cell phones companies network. When I used all my megabytes the Internet would stop, and since the Peace Corps pays you the average wage of the country you serve in—I couldn’t afford a lot of megabytes. This changed my Internet behavior; I turned off all images on all websites because pictures used too many megabytes,(Facebook with no faces, only book) forget about Skype or Youtube (well the connection was too slow to access either site effectively) which use a lot data. Upon returning to the U.S. I was blown away at the possibilities a non pay-per-megabyte system and a fast connection afforded me.  I have found so many online resources that would of enormously helpful during my service that I could never afford.

So far the FCC has erred against these changes, but it’s important to protect the information environment that has created a global platform for so many.