Kemune

What we are seeing here has been seen before. If you ever wondered just why TV, radio and the newspapers all seem to be controlled by a handfull of men, then you must realize that this was not always the case. The first newspapers were created by concerned citizens, reasonably well off concernced citizens who could afford to setup a new business but hardly the super rich.
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As time moved on, radio stations, newspapers and tv broadcasters were bought up, consolidated with any small operator being unable to afford any stumble without it being preyed upon by richer soulless companies. Meanwhile the costs of starting a new newspaper, a new radio staton a new tv station became higher and higher.
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BUT the internet is free... yeah, it used to be... but now, even a widely distrubuted site like Wikileaks can be severely hampered, raising the cost to Wikileaks to remain online. And how are they going to pay for it? Maybe use a small banker with high principles... oh but all the banks consolidated. Maybe use a small ISP with high principles.... oh but all the ISP's consolidated... maybe use a DNS provider with high principles... oh but they can't afford to have their main business hurt by the DDOS attack from "unknown" sources, less the consoloidated banks that fund them recall their loans.
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Freedom requires more then just a few words on a piece of paper or even an honest legal system. It requires the means to excercise the freedom or it becomes meaningless. Freedom to protest in your capitol means nothing if you have no means to get there. If taking a day to march means you are fired from your job, loose your mortage etc etc.
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Amazon is NOT a principled company. It itself banned Wikileaks [..] Does this matter? No, not in itself, but if this continues, then the cost of setting up a site becomes higher and higher. The end of network neutrality is closely tied to it. Want to start a new newssite? Can you afford to pay the ISP's? For the mysterious DDOS attack? Get ad-revenue when google black-lists you? Get support payments when Mastercard pulls the plug?
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The secret behind this all is that Freedom is underused. When did you last use your freedom to protest? To unionize? To form opposition to the government? To question your elected representative? It is how many a dictatorship remains in power. Comes into power. Because people value their bread and circusses (mortage, car payments, big screen tv, iPhone) more then their intangible rights. And so they sign themselves over to the new company store until they are "free" slaves. Serves to the system that more or less overlooks them unless they dare to stand up. You are not free simply because the jackboot has not come down on your bowed head.
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Amazon itself is not the threat but if you follow the Wikileaks war, then it becomes clear the rules of the Internet are changing. Its anarchy origins are not so different from other media before. They were bound and tamed. So will the internet, because we are to busy worrying about our mortage, car payments and the latest Idols winner.


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