Freedom of thought

The Internet was created by a few visionaries, who wanted a world of free thought and expression, ideas, dreams and vision, a world beyond boundaries - a freedom of a different dimension, away from  all controls, and unrestricted by the world governed by the political kind. It was a wonderful dream. Sadly, the creators of the internet envisaged only in the goodness of men and they were proved wrong. So, as the internet spread into new horizons as it was meant to, the dream did not last very long.

The first assault on that was the world of commerce and consumerism. Along with it came the crackers  and other lunatics and logically followed by the "undesired" government controls. There were protests, loud and clear - but, it was only from a few, so it was drowned in the, cacophony of coloured dangers and good intentions.

However, that did not stifle or stop the power and reach of internet as it was an open ended idea - only limited by mans imagination. Internet took everything in it's stride - growing as a platform and integrating every new idea and invention into and within it.

Every day, as the internet connectivity took new strides and advanced, it gave more power, more information and far more reach to the individual. Many good people used this vehicle to create a better world for themselves and humanity in general. The same tool in others' hands were used for nefarious purposes - to satiate their greed and lust or their personal or collective agendas. This called for more laws and more controls by the government. By now the stifled protests remained just that. In fact, as some groups started terrorising the world people started voluntarily surrendering their liberties to their government - because, "liberty" in a sense has been lost for ever!

Today, governments are dictating how internet will be used. They are perforce invited to stifle it in order to protect themselves from that one invisible enemy at a tremendous cost to the personal liberties and the freedom envisaged by their creators. While Blackberry is being forced by the Indian government to reveal their codes of their intellectual properties, the US is mulling over laws to force design changes in software for emails, other normally used voice communication tools and social networking sites.

Yet, internet will grow. Most men will use it to realise their dreams - mostly good. Few will thwart and misuse it for their evil designs. We can only hope the evil will stop. If it doesn't, there will come a day when you can never be sure the email that you sent will reach their intended destination or not at all.

Then, we can switch to snail mail?

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A manifestation of that freedom is enjoyed by Priya today in Spain, as expressed in her post :

"Day 11,12,13 - Valdelavilla: a tiny tiny Spanish village. The sun shines differently here, everything is golden, everything is warm. Something changed inside me. I´m discovering who I am as I´m talking to the Spaniards about myself. I came here to teach them English but instead I´m the one learning about life."

 Thought of adding some quotes related to freedom, that come to mind in the current environment :

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.  - Elie Wiesel (A holocaust survivor)

 

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out,
I was not a trade unionists.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent,
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
There was no one left to speak out.
- Martin Niemoller

We must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. - Davy Crockett

True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.  - Clarence Darrow

There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. - Howard Zinn

There is no calamity which a great nation can invite which equals that which follows a supine submission to wrong and injustice and the consequent loss of national self-respect and honor, beneath which are shielded and defended a people's safety and greatness.  - Eldridge Cleaver

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