Peer2Politics

Interesting conversation with Marvin Brown and Smàri Mc Carthy, conducted by Michel Bauwens and produced by Alain Ambrosi, at the Economics and the Commons Conference which took place in Berlin from 22 to 24 May 2013.

I have resisted saying this up to now, and I am saddened to say it, but the US has proved to be an unethical steward of the internet. The UK is no better. The NSA’s actions are legitimizing the internet abuses by China, Russia, Iran and others. We need to figure out new means of internet governance, ones that makes it harder for powerful tech countries to monitor everything. For example, we need to demand transparency, oversight, and accountability from our governments and corporations.

“Effective use of the Internet holds the potential to benefit everyone. Currently, however, its benefits are distributed unequally — some people gain power, wealth and influence from using the Internet while others struggle for basic access. Our vision is a technical, interactive and information rich Internet platform on which people in their communities and elsewhere – the poor and marginalized in Developing and Developed countries, women and youth, indigenous peoples, older persons, those with disabilities–are able to develop and exercise their civic intelligence and to work together equitably and effectively to address our multiple individual and collective challenges.

“All isn’t lost for distributed power, though. For institutional power the Internet is a change in degree, but for distributed power it’s a change of kind. The Internet gives decentralized groups – for the first time – access to coordination. This can be incredibly empowering, as we saw in the SOPA/PIPA debate, Gezi, and Brazil. It can invert power dynamics, even in the presence of surveillance censorship and use control.