Is the Internet Really Beneficial?
Some weeks ago, I saw a television program talking about a group of
students from North Korea that was sentenced to forced labor for
watching the show "Squid Game", the presenter also noted that the
country is one of the most closed in the world and not even the use of
Internet is allowed there, then, I started thinking, "is it so
important?", I know it's a matter of censorship, but, are we really
well served for having it?
I don't mean the really beneficial Internet, a place of search
for knowledge and universal communication, but, to its present popular model, a
den of censorship, manipulation, misinformation and surveillance, where
the big corporations rule and make it even more restrict.
Not long after seeing that, while listening to “A Voz
do Brasil”, a brazilian governmental radio program, it was presented a
conversation with the country's minister of communication, Fábio Faria, about
the implementation of 5G in Brazil. He attributed a
great national revolution to it, but, it's worrisome thinking about it
seeing the list of apps he highlighted, like, Facetime, Uber and
WhatsApp, all proprietary.
Being well connected isn't something positive if it's used in a way
that harms new users, because, by their lack of knowledge, it will be easier for them to fall into the hands of
big tech. This already starts at the choice of tools that will
be used in schools, like, Google Classroom, Google Drive and Google
Meet, and ends at the social media platforms where everyone will communicate
with each other, Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook. Without even taking
notice of what really is the Internet, they will have their data stolen
and knowledge limited to just some of the services provided by them, obfuscating its real value as a vehicle of expression and
collection of universal content.
It would be beautiful if this interiorization happened in a way that
improved Brazil, increasing the influence of less expressive states in
public decisions and connecting inhabitants of more remote areas with
people from the same region, but, as it looks, it will only expand the
use of harmful platforms. The only ones that will benefit from this are
companies of proprietary technologies and governments, that will possess even more power. Some can say that it would turn everyone's life more practical, but, even if the tools worked for their purpose (aside from stealing data), the harm they bring is much greater than their benefits, because, using them is condoning the monopolization of the Internet, surveillance, social control and the consequent extinction of the still existing places of free expression in it.
The majority of websites on the common Internet have trackers embed in
third party cookies, rating buttons or social media sharing, they are
programmed to follow you, even if what you visit is outside their
domain. That way, your Internet history is registered by algorithms to
generate ads that match your tastes. Social media platforms also benefit from psychological tricks, such as, directing content that is opposite to your beliefs, encouraging you to engage in more interactions than you would if you only saw content that you liked. Facebook's algorithm also uses the rating countings to intensify the display of hateful content, because it classifies them by the intensity of the feeling, "Like" being worth 1 and "Anger" being worth 5. Other popular mechanics are the "infinite scrolling", that generates endless pages with unlimited content, and the counting of "Likes" and subscribers, that are the only existing separator between users and posts, otherwise, every content would be rated individually instead of judged good or bad relying on the opinion of the majority.
The profilization and behaviorism are great ways of obtaining
complete control of your users, giving unmeasurable power in a society
where everyone is connected. This may degenerate into misuse.
Some examples are the intensification of extremisms by the Facebook
algorithm, revealed in Frances Haugen's papers. That may have encouraged the occurrence of events such as the
invasion of the capitol and the censorship that happened in the Vietnamese
version of the platform in 2020 after the government threatened to ban
their service there.
extracted from Wikimedia Commons
The image above shows the data providers for NSA's surveillance
project, PRISM, and the types of data that they can provide, such as, social
media details, transfered files, login activity and others.
As it can ben seen, the actual Internet model serves only to manipulate and
surveil people, everything being for the benefit of big corporations and
followingly of governments, such as the one from the United States. Brazil's also
tries to make use of it, but it can't. While acessing it continues to mean
submiting yourself to the exploration of monopolies, it won't be
beneficial for anyone. Different from what Fábio Faria, says, if it doesn't be reinvented, and its users
reeducated, instead of mass connnection putting Brazil at the same
level of developed countries, it will transform it in a dystopia,
making its population even more dependent.
A way of transforming it into a valuable place for everyone is learning how to
defend yourself from the actual model, boycotting the popular disservices,
making use of tools that respect your privacy to connect to the
Internet and communicate (GNU/Linux, Tor Browser, Element), and creating your own
website. Some resources to get informed about the topic are:
https://spyware.neocities.org - Website that
verifies the existence of spyware in popular software;
https://ssd.eff.org -
Self defense guide against surveillance;
https://www.privacytools.io - List of programs that
respect your privacy;
https://www.gnu.org - Website from the GNU Project,
with didactic content about the philosophy of free software, software
licenses and proprietary software;
https://www.neocities.org - The platform where this
site was made;
“I don’t believe our species can survive unless we fix this. We
cannot have a society in which, if two people wish to communicate, the
only way that can happen is if it’s financed by a third person who
wishes to manipulate them.” - Jaron Lanier
