My Soul Cried…
Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal Net Neutrality. The implications of that are greater than words can even describe. In the most simple of terms, it means that the internet which I have spent much of my life attempting to use for good is now to be completely controlled by the powers that be. Basically, the federal regulations no longer exist that have up until today prevented those that control the service providers and the media from blocking, throttling or prioritizing content on their broadband networks.
This new and innovative technology of internet that so many of us had hoped would create education and remove the divisions between us...Gone with very few of us paying attention. This space where so much consciousness was sparked, has truly just become the greatest weapon of mass oppression ever invented thanks to individuals like fb’s Mark Zuckerberg who is a real modern day ‘Edward Bernays.’
Recommended Viewing: Watch ‘The Century of the Self’ to learn more:
https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-century-of-the-self/
Whether you’ve been following the political ‘Reality TV Show,’ skimming the headlines, or just connecting with family and friends, this decision will have an impact on what you can do online (and more importantly who can afford to do online). Because the internet has effectively been free and open since the day it was born, it’s easy to lose sight of the impact this vote today will have on the collective as a whole. Think about it, currently it is estimated that 60% of the worlds population have no access to internet. That percentage is about to change radically.
The reality is that the internet is a fragile thing. Open, crazy, weird spaces where people swap stories and secrets, friends and families connect, people resist, people educate each other, people create radical change, we type furiously and freely with people seven time zones away — these spaces are Rare. People built them, people sustained them, and now, people are restricting them.
As of today, the internet’s gatekeepers will have more control over their gates than ever before. Trust me the changes that have been shifted over the past year few years while everyone was sucked up in the ‘Reality TV’ show that is being played on a world stage have set the stage for the control of information on an entirely new level. Oh my heart…
Because we live and breathe the internet, laugh and cry on the internet, connect with people who’ve tangibly changed our lives on the internet, we will be affected. I know I will. Part of the greatest gift of the internet for me has been connecting with people from all around the world on a daily basis. The experience has shifted my life in ways that are only felt in the Soul and today my Soul is Crying.
I will miss a free and open internet and I’m also anxiously awaiting whatever is next for me when I awaken in the morning! Guess I’ll just have to connect face to face again. What a novel idea? ;-)