DOPA - a dangerous law!

And back to DOPA - have you signed the petition? In a recent post on the Internet is People site, Ben Werdmuller (Why get excited about the social web?) writes: "DOPA is a particularly dangerous law for this reason. A lot of people who can’t afford home Internet in the States use it in their public libraries; there are blogs run by homeless people, for example, giving a unique insight into their lives. Unfortunately, DOPA means that these people can no longer have access to this communications medium; although they can still use the Internet, removing social networking systems and discussion boards effectively strips them of a voice and turns them into consumers rather than active participants. The merits of its intentions can be debated, but it is, in practice, evil." This struck a chord with one of my own concerns, which I have previously given the slightly awkward name of digital dignity (if anyone can think of a better way of expressing this concept, I will be all ears). We are approaching a time when - as my friend, Robert Skey alluded to last week - the Web will be ubiquitous, and access to the Web may become a determining factor in the nature of an individual's role in society. Until that access itself becomes cheap and universal, if it ever does, the only route for access for many people will be through those that are publicly funded and made available through schools, libraries, community facilities, and so on. If the stupid principles behind DOPA are applied to all such modes of access, we will relegate many many people to a second-rate Web incorporating state-sponsored restrictions. The world is changing, I believe, to the extent that full participation in society by the individual will become dependent on the nature and the extent of our virtual existence. The deliberate degrading of that virtual experience by law will demean this critical part of our social interaction, and we will introduce another dimension into the already complex digital divide.

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© John Connell
The views expressed in this weblog are entirely my own and are not intended to reflect the views of any other individuals or organizations. All sources will be fully acknowledged.