I know this is not something I usually write about but I am really interested in the ways our use of technologies and the Internet has changed during the past 30 years. How dependent most people are on them, how ‘googling’ has become a term used to describe ‘looking something up online’ and how hard it is to exist without being on the internet in one way or another…

I found the blog below a nice nudge to think more about some of these things.

Blog: Introducing the Public Interest Internet

found on Electronic Frontier Foundation

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/05/introducing-public-interest-internet

But on the real internet, one or two clicks away from that handful of conglomerates, there remains a wider, more diverse, and more generous world. Often run by volunteers, frequently without any obvious institutional affiliation, sometimes tiny, often local, but free for everyone online to use and contribute to, this internet preceded Big Tech, and inspired the earliest, most optimistic vision of its future place in society.

Another interesting thing to consider is the proposed Bill in the UK to make the Internet safer and the implications of state interference in sharing of information…

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-uk-risks-becoming-a-world-leader-in-online-censorship

Amongst other things, the pandemic was a security crisis and many governments around the world, including here in the UK, have begun to develop a growing paranoia about the spread of information they cannot control. Where journalists and politicians once acted as the gatekeepers of expression, the internet has democratised speech and has meant that everyone now has access to a platform. Unfortunately, those in power often do not like this direction of travel.

I also get quite excited about the idea that we could all acces and modify software. I don’t undestand why we we weren’t taught how to write source code in school and why it isn’t considered a basic human right to learn this skill? In a highly digitalised society we are basically prisoners of digital tech developers…

https://itsfoss.com/what-is-foss/