Mod. 2.1 - Power & Economy (incl. Discussion Board post)

Reading Brendan Gilbert et al., “Web Content/Social Networking,” Blog, Corporate Power in New Media, May 14, 2008.
Comment:
Michael Arrington, chairman of edgeio.com and founder of techcrunch.com, said, “Power is shifting toward the individual, operating at the edge of the network and away from the giant companies at the center of the network…It’s a paradigm shift for everyone on the Internet.” (Business Week article)


Discussion Board post "Internet Access"

1. Power operates in many ways on the Internet, let's take one example, that of Internet access, to discuss power (no more than half a page):
1. Are there limits to when, what (sites), how much, and where you access the Internet?
2. How can you transgress those limits and what are the possible consequences?
3. Is it possible to lose your access and what are the ways this might happen?

When: Internet users are most vulnerable against electrical power failure. I live in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne where a storm in April last year resulted in a four day power outage. Relying almost entirely on the Internet to communicate with the outside world I realized how vulnerable you are without electrical power. I believe those in the electrical industry to hold the power over economy in their hands in the future.

What: Over the last months there has been a lot of discussion about trying to censor the Internet. Fortunately that is only possible to a certain extent and for limited time (Ricci, 2009). I do have limited access over certain material and I am happy to do so: Those limitations are access to bank accounts, association Web sites, Police etc. However, each of these limitations also take away control from the user. As WikiLeaks (2010) constantly reveals, there are a lot of things going on behind closed doors that are deliberately kept away from the public audience to prevent outrage or in simple terms, the loss of power.

How much: The only quantitative limits I see are those of data transfer speed and my own ability to process the data I am reading and listening to. Further data access may be limited by those who want to feed me a teaser in the aim to sell more of the same to me. This is how online advertising works in many cases. One example is downloading music for pay from Myspace accounts. Some artists limited their songs to certain lengths or reduce the quality in the aim to make visitors download better quality or complete tracks for pay (Karlsson, 2010).

Where: In terms of where I have access to the Internet depends on the device I have at hand. In a mostly rural place like Australia access is a different story, compared to the situation you will find in densly populated central Europe. In terms of “where”, the power lies with the Internet access provider and those who sell the devices that enable me to connect with a provider.

Does access vary?
Further, access varies significantly depending on affordability and locality. Living in a first world/western world culture the Internet is a crucial part of everyday life. It affects almost every part of my life and my being. In third world countries, apart from affordability and accessibility, illiteracy is another major issue the prevents these people from accessing the Internet. So the power not only lies with those who control it, but also those who have the ability to use it.

How do economic relationships conflict with or support existing power structures through the Internet? Choose an example from your first module and discuss on the discussion boards.

Reference

Karlsson, J. T. (2010). Familjen. MySpace. Retrieved from http://www.myspace.com/familjen

Ricci, C (2009, February 9). Censoring The Internet. The Age. Retrieved from http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/censoring-the-internet-20090206-7zcw.html

WikiLeaks (2010). About. Retrieved from http://wikileaks.org/media/about.html