Information's Imprisonment by Dr. Apocalypse (dr.apocalypse@gmail.com) and Matt Fillhart First Amendment rights must be protected if our thirst for progress is to be quenched, our love of participatory government to be sustained, and our embrace of civil liberties to be complete. Unfortunately, current economic trends threaten our right to free speech. Capitalism only functions when there is ample competition. Few people seem to notice that much of the competition in the communications, entertainment, and technology industries is drying up. This dangerous pattern leaves us with fewer means of attaining and disseminating information. Very little competition exists in the aforementioned industries. At best, we have competition within oligopolies. In 1984, Orwell warned the world about government controlled media, and while we have avoided his dystopian view, we have fallen into another. All forms of communications that were at one time able to reach a large number of the population are now under the control of just a few corporations. For example, radio broadcasting was a nation-wide medium to reach people with music, radio shows, and, most importantly, news about the world around them and their government. Though there are around 10,000 commercial radio stations in the US, only about fifteen are all-news outlets that employ large news staffs for their reporting. Out of the 15, 13 are owned by Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). Here is where the real parent company fun begins: CBS is owned by Viacom Inc. who also own Paramount Pictures (one of the few major movie picture creators) as well as Simon & Schuster, one of the world's leading book publishing companies. So, Viacom controls a leading television media company, a leading book publishing company, a leading movie media company, and the leader in radio news reporting, which means that a single group of chairmen can control what we read, watch, and hear, at least in part. To see how widespread such concentration is, visit http://www.theyrule.net/. Also, check out Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig. This lack of competition may allow multibillion-dollar corporations to shatter the foundations of the Internet in a push for profits. We may be the last generation to experience net neutrality. It has always been an underpinning rule of the Internet that all packets are considered equal. However, many of the companies which own the lines used to transfer broadband data are now considering giving perks to content providers who pay more. In other words, those who cannot afford to pay high fees will be given slower routes and poorer service. For example, Verizon's CEO claims that Google is receiving a "free lunch" and thinks his company should be compensated. Never mind that companies like Google enable Verizon to make a profit by giving people a reason to use the Internet. The end of net neutrality threatens free speech because only rich companies will be able to afford to have their voices heard. Startups will not be able to afford to get their voices heard or to get their products to market if their customers are stuck with lousy speeds when accessing their websites. A move away from net neutrality in the U.S. would put us at odds with the rest of the world. If foreign companies didn't pay off American companies, access to their sites would presumably be degraded as well. This could lead to a fractured Internet, which would obviously hinder the spread of information. While companies at home pose a subtle risk to free speech, the readily inhibit the free flow of information abroad. Most of the censorship takes place in China, where American corporations are all too eager to trample free speech just to turn a profit. Microsoft censors such evil terms as "freedom," "democracy," and "human rights" from their MSN blogs. Google limits what users can see in order to please the Chinese government. Yahoo has twice helped hunt down a dissident journalist, admitting to Congress "We have not reached out to the families [of these journalists]." With their vast resources, all of these companies can afford to make a stand for free speech. Right now, it is easier and cheaper for these companies to degrade human rights; this is a failure of the market which must be corrected. Congress, thankfully, has caught wind of this and held hearings, but it remains unclear at the time of this writing whether any action will come about. Digital Rights Management, or DRM, is a collection of technologies which embed the enforcement of intellectual property rights in computer hardware, software, and media. Works that may be subject to rights management are educational and included in online repositories, meaning that many educational materials will have restricted use, rather than be open to all. The use of DRM is seen by many in the computer industry as a lucrative source of new revenue. However, the use of digital technology should not be limited by corporations or government, and the shift of control to producers (even after sale) will ultimately hurt creative expression and damage consumer rights. If DRM is implemented on a wide scale, then those companies who control most computer mediums (read: Microsoft) will have control over what can be read, how many times it can be read, and who can read it, which is a scary thought considering the Internet was praised as a medium which can not be limited and which would be open for all equally. For more information dealing with Digital Rights Management, as well as the future of the Internet read "The Digital Imprimatur: How big brother and big media can put the Internet genie back in the bottle." by John Walker. Unless we do something to support the freedom of speech, a grim future lies ahead. Remember, everything mentioned above just applies to U.S. companies. I don't really know if the situation in other countries is quite as bad yet. If you have some insight on the effects of economics on free speech in other places, please share it. Luckily, there are several things we can do to help. Join a Free Culture Chapter (http://freeculture.org/chapters/chapters.php) if your university has one, or start one if it doesn't. Adopt a Chinese blogger so his or her words can bypass the Great Firewall. Support the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lobbying efforts by becoming a member. Popularize alternative media, like 2600, by reading it and telling your friends about it. Install a Tor exit server to help others browse anonymously. Support Project Gutenberg, whose goal is to create an online library of every book, and have their use be free of charge and free in use. More suggestions to promote the freedom of speech are welcome, as are stories of success in defending the spread of information. - Dr. Apocalypse (dr.apocalypse@gmail.com) and Matt Fillhart