Who is the Enemy of the Internet?
Hosted by Turkey, IGF 2014 had many followers who are defenders of freedom of expression and internet activists.
On the one hand, activists struggle against internet censorship; on the other hand they participated in Internet Ungovernance Forum which is an alternative to IGF and “discotech”.
On the subjects of internet governance, cybercrime, and entrepreneurship were discussed in the forum and “Who is the enemy of the internet?”, bianet asked activists.
Despite different answers, most of them focus on “centralization”.
Activists emphasized that efforts of states to centralize countries threat the net neutrality, in turn, internet censorship and surveillance by states will increase. (EA/MUY/BM)
* Click here to read the article in Turkish.
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso and its partners and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. The project's page: Safety Net for European Journalists. A Transnational Support Network for Media Freedom in Italy and South-east Europe.
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Julia Reda European Parliament Member of Pirate Party The biggest enemy of the internet is centralization. The internet was founded as a network through which individuals can interact each other without having a center. However, big companies like Facebook and governments try to confine internet to a specific geography. This is a threat which may collapse the foundation of the internet. Therefore, we need to have more control over the internet substructure and this is rather about net neutrality. In addition, we need to establish substructural systems, a decentralized substructure; and a democratic control mechanism over this substructure. |
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Erkan Saka İstanbul Bilgi University Communication Faculty It is the biggest threat that governments and companies retain too much control over internet. What happened to internet media is the same with what happened to mass media in the beginning of 20th century. This means also the loss of idea of public sphere. As the internet is commercialized and starts to be controlled by states, the possibilities to create independent media decrease as well. For this reason, web objectivity is very important. |
Fieke Jansen |
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HIVOS- Digital Defenders Partnership We are all enemies of the internet. As my friend said, the internet was created as a technological production initially for individuals and then for universities. Governments is the last on the list. However, everybody is actually the enemy of the internet because everybody has their own interests in the internet and they all wish to control this field. Therefore, we are the actual solution. We should try to maintain decentralization of the internet, develop technologies for it, and prevent governments from centralizing the internet on the pretext of national security. |
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Johann Bihr Reporters Without Borders Internet is an important area where the information can so quickly spread, but it is now in a critical period. Many governments try to convert the internet to a restricted national area which they can easily censor and control it. Censorship and control are very common among countries who define themselves as democratic and this situation threatens the freedom of expression. As to Turkey, the freedom of internet is seriously under pressure. Restrictions, preventions, and especially internet regulations in 2014 create a big threat. Some administrative institutions such as Telecommunication Authorities (TİB) were entitled to control and censor internet. This may result in arbitrary decisions. Also Law of National Intelligence Organization (MİT) enables users to be detected and blacklisted; on the other hand it enable anyone who published a news piece on MİT to be sentenced. |
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Işık Mater Alternative Informatics Association The essential enemy of the internet is the oppressive powers, I.e. States and governments. In this case, no matter whether the government consists of AKP (Justice and Development Party) or CHP (Republican’s People Party). All of them intend to control the internet. The only way to struggle with it is being aware and raising awareness. Arguments such as “Why would they stalk me?”, “I have nothing to hide”, or “I can overcome censorship changing my DNS” don’t make sense. Through the simplest activity on internet, our personal data can be accessed to the 3rd parties. We need to be aware of this. |
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Geoffrey King Committee to Protect Journalists Internet is again its enemy in terms of many points: The arena of struggle for freedom of expression of people of is a a social control potential which results from internet itself. Therefore, we need to be leery and legal and technological substructures need to be developed in this way. Otherwise,it would be an irremediable catastrophe if internet is blocked or restricted. We should keep internet dynamic and functional. At this point, journalist have an important responsibility. We can publish police violence and corruption probes on the internet. We can keep internet dynamic by creating an area where human rights are multiplied. |