Chapter 10 sheds light on the shadowy side of the Internet. Gillmor explains defamation, libel and other legal issues that emerged as a result of net-based software and tools. The online sphere has given rise to other legal concerns including copyright, linking, jurisdiction, and liability for what others say on your site. Bloggers beware: this chapter cautions that anyone who regularly publishes content on the web should be insured or get insured to protect and defend against such occurrences. However, disseminating information online in the form of blogs does have its advantages. For example, your readers serve as an extra set of eyes to help catch mistakes and inaccuracies. This can be especially beneficial for those writers without personal editors. Misuse is another hazy area that has developed from the online “cut-and-paste culture” of today. The web serves as platform and while access to information has increased (although one may refute this statement using a “digital divide” perspective) as a result of the Internet, it comes with its drawbacks. As discussed in previous posts the Internet has a democratizing effect, but (and this is a BIG but) that’s not to say the medium and its tools ensure an equalizing effect. In order to exist online we must write ourselves into being (i.e. blogs). To me, the blog world can be likened to the annual battle for high school prom king and queen. The student body may have its say (with a vote) but the campaign to be crowned boils down to nothing more than a popularity contest. Similarly, in the blogosphere, “votes” are cast in the form of links, and to gain recognition one had better have a lot of them (which is probably why I go rather unnoticed or simply don’t exist to most of the online world). However, a problem develops when links are “forbidden.” Gillmor exposes some serious implications of forbidden linking, but at the same time points out legal debates go way beyond the trivial disputes about linking. Enter Chapter 11.
Many communication and media scholars believed in the potential of the Internet as a uniquely free field with limited margins. As Gillmor asserts, “the Internet—the first many-to-many medium— was going to liberate us from the tyranny of centralized media and the rancid consumerism…Big Media wants us to buy” (p 209). However, the optimistic promise of digital media advocates soon hit a brick wall when Big Business, Big Media and the Government got word (and got scared) of the unlimited possibilities the Internet offered. As a result, the big guns started taking aim at these digital liberties. In response central authority starting building fortifications to guard against the ubiquitous scope of the Internet in the form of firewalls. The push for increased security ultimately thwarted advancements and slowed the momentum of grassroots journalism. Radical and complex legislation also emerged to counteract the spread of information—information that many businesses, not just governments, did not want their customers/citizens to know about. Many legal issues and privacy implications abound as Big Brother breathes heavily down the backs of its people. Cookies, computer tracking technology such as “IP Mapping,” spam filters and blacklists are all disturbing trends that impinge upon privacy and security. Copyright infringement is another subject of debate in Chapter 11. The plaintiffs are big businesses who feel threatened by digital media’s ability to easily copy and distribute. Bottom line: the entertainment industry got paranoid and Hollywood lobbyists started building their case against digital technologies. Gillmor notes, “the industry has cleverly, though wrongly, framed the argument as “stealing” versus “property rights” (p 215). The problem is, once copyright holders are given unprecedented control, they own not just the product, but the consumer as well and the customer is now imprisoned to their rules. This practice not only denies people fair use of what they have purchased, but will undeniably have disastrous effects on the future of citizen media/journalism.
Chapter 12 -the final chapter of Gillmor’s masterpiece- is a last call to people concerned about the future of the field. Throughout the book Gillmor has persuasively argued how the Internet is disrupting the current flow of information. His closing argument echoes everything he’s revealed up to this point while challenging the reader to join this new wave of effective citizen journalism. Gillmor has used the previous chapters to outline how technology is altering journalism and now in his closing remarks he urges his readers to become part of the process.
