[governance] Example of Corporate Internet Authoritarianism -

[Michael Gurstein]

I think that Bill's casual dismissal of this issue is not appropriate.

The logic here is surely the same as the overall logic of a "Right to the
Internet" (remembering that I claim no expertise in the domain of discussion
around "Rights"... 

If access to the Internet is a necessary requirement for participation in an
"Information Society" then access to the tools that allow for or facilitate
the use of the Internet especially when those tools are linked into some
sort of monopolistic position with respect to the use of the Internet should
surely fall under that rubric.

I don't know the details of the case under discussion here but it would
follow that if certain information is only accessible on the Internet via a
certain tool then denial of access to that tool is the same as denial of
access to that information.

The interesting addition here from other "Right to the Internet" discussions
(which have I believe, dealt for the most part with access to "national"
information) is that the denial of access to information is within the
international sphere i.e. access of information from one country by someone
in another country and thus raises the issue of an authority which could
support/enforce a "Right to the Internet" at a global level.

MBG

-----Original Message-----
From: Fouad Bajwa [mailto:fouadbajwa at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 7:50 AM
To: William Drake
Cc: governance at lists.cpsr.org
Subject: Re: [governance] Example of Corporate Internet Authoritarianism -


Hmm,

Apologies beforehand, I may have confused the literal meaning of
authoritarian but authoritarianism also applies to an organization and we
can see that within the evolution and stronghold of capitalism and
capitalist approaches, Amazon does fall in to this domain. For example,
Amazon does dictate who buys or isn't allowed to buy from its website.
Secondly it also dictates who can download or not download from their
website.

A government will not provide me a kindle, I will have to approach Amazon,
the organization in this case for it since it is their product. Its
available for sale to all the developed countries and certain high income
regions but not to the third world/low-income/LDC. Secondly the website
clearly shows through its messages that it withholds my right to access even
a free software product.

Authoritarianism does apply to governance regimes but on the Internet, the
corporations were the first ones to apply governance regimes, the
governments only followed as awareness and participation developed. The
electronic network has its own dimensions of evolving governance models and
there is no significant proof of who came first, the chicken or the egg.

A small and prior example may also come from PayPal and Ebay. We in the
developing world and in particular Pakistan cannot service through knowledge
work the people of the west or developed because they prefer to pay us
through paypal only and in most instances clearly specify that they will
only work with people with paypal accounts. That immediately applies an
exclusion and when PayPal or Ebay are approached, they maintain their
silence or authority on the choice of whom they give access to or not.

I was referencing the software, free for all otherwise not free for Pakistan
infact not available at all. If more people in the west produce for kindles
in the near future, more divide for people in this part in accessing that
intellectual or knowledge contribution. Interestingly, there is no price for
the software but still no provision to people in a developing country like
Pakistan. Similarly has been practice by Ebay and PayPal with the denial of
any kind of service. Why keep us out of the e-economy? If we do something on
our own then over pricing is practised on the developing world. Lots of
issues here but I guess we have to now take stock one by one. It still is
access denied.

I believe that the respect of rights online for us in the in the developing
world are also influenced by western corporations. They sell us expensive
Internet, expensive equipment and continue to deny access to many services
they allow for their regions and people.

In my personal opinion, Internet Authoritariansim is still evolving and its
forms are still being identified. Only signifying governmental regimes as
the only available forms of authoritarianism is not justice to the world
online.

My two cents.... :o)

On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 8:33 PM, William Drake
<william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch> wrote:
> Hi Fouad
> On Nov 25, 2009, at 3:38 PM, Fouad Bajwa wrote:
>
> Message on Page:
> We're sorry. Kindle for PC is not currently available in Pakistan. Are 
> you traveling outside your country? Sign in to see if Kindle for PC is 
> available for download in your country.
>
> Seriously, you think a company not selling a product in a country 
> constitutes "authoritarianism"? Why contribute to the erosion of 
> words' meaning?  Can't we leave that to the teabaggers et al?
> Bill



-- 
Regards.
--------------------------
Fouad Bajwa
Advisor & Researcher
ICT4D & Internet Governance
Member Multistakeholder Advisory Group (IGF)
Member Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus (IGC)
My Blog: Internet's Governance http://internetsgovernance.blogspot.com/
Follow my Tweets:
http://twitter.com/fouadbajwa
MAG Interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATVDW1tDZzA
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