Brittney Hatrack

1. The internet ought to discard the process of continually collecting data through websites like Google.

Everyone on the internet knows that their providing information about their life to an entirely unknown amount of people. However, what most people don’t know is that Google keeps track of every website you visit in a huge database. I think it violates basic rights to keep this information for over a year; especially making it available at the government’s whim. Privacy is slowly becoming extinct, but that doesn’t mean that the basic rights we have as a society should be disregarded by a private search engine.

2. The internet should advance wiki’s so that the internet becomes an entirely collaborative world of knowledge.

Based on the wealth of knowledge available on the internet it seems unwise not to completely focus on the vision of collaborative thinking. The success of Wikipedia shows that the world is ready to share their knowledge for the betterment of society as a whole rather than individuals or specific groups. Collaborative thinking will advance social, economic and professional worlds on so many levels that it would be smart to put a lot of spotlight on what it could do for society.

3. Social networking ought to keep advancing so that it matches the social and technological ideas of the time.

Social networking has advanced so much since the start of the internet. In my time on the internet there has been OpenDiary, MySpace and finally, Facebook. They went from simple page layouts with no media and very little information to extremely informative interactive sites. With the future of the internet moving forward into an age of change involving wiki’s, media and design, social networking sites need to keep up with the change to keep social sites on the same level as the rest of the developing internet.

4. Media, including movies, music and television, on the internet should be free for everyone.

Television and certain movies are already available at any time on the internet through different websites. However, media moguls like Apple’s iTunes, Rhapsody, and Zune’s monthly pass charge $1.00 for a single song and normal prices for whole cd’s. I think by making media free, it will downplay the reliance on illegal downloading thus endorsing creativity and not stealing. A lot of artists make their music available for free because the aren’t “sell outs”. Television on the internet is easy because they still make money from advertising. Media is already on the way to becoming public and small steps towards free media will promote the creative internet universe.

5. The internet should provide any single person with the privacy we are subject to under law.

The internet has a lot of issues with confusion on the basis of privacy laws. There’s a lot of bending rules and finding loop holes in order to get out of trouble because there is no foundation to ruling the internet. What I feel needs to change is not changing laws to include the internet, but to build a whole new section of laws to address internet fraud, gossip, privacy and other important problems. The government needs to recognize that the internet is new and unique. It needs to protect people under specific laws that can’t be confused because of the source of the law itself.

6. Sites that allow users to find the location of others should be eliminated.

I altered this principle to simply address sites that visually allow people to see the locations of others should be eliminated from the internet. There is Google Earth among other sites, which allow anyone in the world (without registration) to closely view individuals houses and any other place on the earth that has an address. In the news, they showed that terrorists used Google Earth to plot bombing locations on U.S. soil. This just shows that these websites are dangerous and create situations that can be avoided by simply registering users or checking content. I believe that the internet bases so much pressure on monitoring our country that they forget to monitor others. We as a society are endangering ourselves with websites like Google Earth.

7. All forum and chat room-based websites must require users to provide valid registration information.

One of the biggest problems with the internet is that young users are privy to inappropriate information and users. Internet pedophiles find young girls to prey on, websites advertise to young boys to gamble. There is no restriction on who can use the internet; therefore, there’s no restriction on what they can do. By insisting on valid registration, websites will be able to control the users and stop unsuitable relationships, as well as decrease viewing of inappropriate material.

8. Hate speech on the Internet should be restricted.

This principle feels similar to the questioning about laws on the internet. Just like creating new laws about privacy, the U.S. should create laws that regulate hate speech on the internet. There is no “police force” for the internet, the government can track what people look at; however, they can’t stop websites from existing. There are countless white supremacy websites and forums, as well as hate websites for almost everything in existence. Because of the idea of link-minds forming more radical ideals, the danger of hate speech grows exponentially on the internet. By restricting hate speech or at least giving it some sort of order, there would be a smaller chance of hate speech becoming a bigger problem.

9. Children under the age of 16 should not be allowed to create a social networking account.

Similar to the principle about valid registration for chat based websites, the idea of children under the age of 16 using social networking sites runs along the same lines. Social networking sites first contain similar chat-based forums, as well as suggestive adult situations available. Social networking sites also draw focus away from life itself and to wait until they are at least 16 makes it so they “don’t grow up too fast.” The internet grows so quickly and if these teenagers are living their life on MySpace or Facebook, they won’t grasp the reality of the real world.

10. Businesses/companies should not access potential or current employees’ blogs and/or social networking page.

The basis for this principle comes from an old saying, “Don’t mix business with pleasure.” It’s a staple of most corporations to have a no fraternization rule, and even the army has a don’t ask, don’t tell policy. What an employee does should be their own business as long as it doesn’t violate the law or codes of the corporation by using specific names or jargon. Also, a large amount of potential employees are coming from college, and aren’t necessarily represented by the pictures shown on their social networking site. The societal norms between college and the professional world and completely different and its unrealistic to expect every worker to have no interaction with deemed inappropriate behavior. By accessing blogs and social sites, they are losing employees that are both social and hard-working for employees that are simply just hard-working.

11. The Internet should be free of charge.

In order to charge for the internet, the internet would first need to be privatized and owned by someone or something. The internet would then be regulated and restricted, and although in certain situations that is a good thing, to entirely regulate the internet would defeat the primal purpose of its invention. The internet is everyone’s and to charge for the internet takes that away from different economic and social groups because of monetary issues. Also, the problem of the internet being privatized would then give a one corporation or the government the ability to run the single most important component of our country.

12. Society shouldn’t become one with the computer.

I feel that the most important principle doesn’t actually have anything to do with the physical internet. What’s most important is that there is a whole world out there for internet users to experience, so don’t focus too much on the virtual world. Don’t forget that there’s real mail, the ability to travel and friendships off of the internet. Our social and regular lives shouldn’t become completely integrated with the virtual world of the internet. It is an amazing tool; however, it is not an amazing world to live in.