“Long Live the Web” by Tim Berners Lee offers a fascinating insight into the global nature to the internet and the importance of it being universally accessible. His characterization of the internet in itself being a form of freedom of speech that follows principles within the US constitution and British Magna Carta is a concept that I had never thought of before. He also notes the numerous variables that make up the internet- and the importance of it being a free, interconnected space to properly enjoy and reap the full benefits of it. Interestingly, this 2010 article talks about the harmfulness of net neutrality, a concept that has become very pressing in American politics over the last year. Berners explains that net neutrality leads to a discrimination of service, where users fundamental rights to access their internet is dependent upon their degree of service that they paid for. He, lastly, emphasizes the importance of governments, globally, to not intervene of citizens freedom to use the internet. Whether it is China hacking dissidents’ emails, the US blacklisting websites, or France disconnecting the internet of people pirating videos- these are all infringements upon their respective citizens freedom to use the internet and comes at a cost to society. It is important that technological protocols respect the values of humanity and do not constrain the breadth of knowledge that the internet cultures and promotes.
The article “The Strange Geopolitics of the International Cloud” addresses the hidden politics behind the internet and offers some insights on aspects of the international cloud infrastructure that most people likely do not know about. Surprisingly, the article first notes that for an area is it dependent on an areas environmental, financial, and political scene to be rich with internet exchange. Most surprisingly, the density of internet exchange is all dependent upon whether that location is US-friendly. Additionally, the United State’s global dominance leads to innumerable geopolitical disputes. To name one, they are in the midst of a two year battle with the government in Ireland- where the U.S. argues that they have jurisdiction of information acquired by Microsoft, due to it being an American company. This article presents a new perspective in how The Cloud’s global shape and politics and the planet’s global shape and politics are one in the same.