Freedom of Speech and the Blogosphere

These days Freedom of Speech and the Blogosphere have become a contradiction of terms. Bloggers around the world are abuzz today with concerns over the restriction of basic freedom of speech rights that we in the west generally take for granted.

The problem is the major search engines are playing ball with rogue governments and assisting them in their nefarious activities compromising basic human rights to get access to larger markets (albeit restricted) and make more profits.

Would big business have acted similarly at the height of the cold war with the Soviet Union? My how the times are-a-changing

But the problem is also from within. It seems that is a compromise big business can live with when it comes to the almighty dollar as it has no qualms turning a blind eye to our basic freedoms.

The rules have all changed and I don’t know how the game is played anymore. Then again, no matter what the rules are it always seems to come down to the same common denominator:

So which is the greater American dream? Getting rich(er) (or should I say how much is enough) or preserving our much cherished rights and freedoms that a lot of people died fighting for. I guess we will find out soon enough.

We threw off the shackles of the old aristocracy only to replace it with another slave master. A history buff myself, if there is one thing that I’ve learned it is no matter what philosophy we pledge allegiance to, nothing much ever really changes (especially human nature). It just sort of recycles itself — only the names and titles of the powers that be change, and geeks are no exception.

I see a very dangerous road that we are travelling downwards in a long and winding spiral. As we struggle with issues like net neutrality I’m seeing little or no business ethics, and the computer industry is leading the charge followed closely on its heels by the walmarts, enrons et al. End of speech.

Today I called up Google to ask an engineer questions about discrepancies I’ve noticed that are anomalous to blogspot users and how they are being indexed. I couldn’t even get past their pitbull receptionist let alone get a reasonable answer:

“Send us an email” she said. “But this isn’t a support issue” I responded. “Sorry, but that’s our policy” she said. “You mean I can’t even talk to a live person” I asked. “They’re busy people” she replied. “Aren’t we all” I responded. “Have I mistakenly called Microsoft” I added. “No, this is Google” was the response.

Is Google really becoming evil? At this point the question appears moot.