Internet Freedom: A Hoax or a Reality?

We hold in our hands, the most precious gift of all: Freedom. The freedom to express our art. Our love. The freedom to be who we want to be. We are not going to give that freedom away and no one shall take it from us! Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure, Cicely, 1992

Touching quote right? I am sure most of you would agree. However, are we really holding our “precious” freedom in our hands? Are we appreciating it as we should? Are we conscious of how our actions might negatively influence the health and sanity of our freedom? I think not!

More Access: Less Freedom!

During another daily round on Mixx, I found the following cartoon:

Internet Freedom?

It made me think about the heavy weight the future of our freedom carries upon its shoulder due to this “much freer access of information”. It also reminded me of my clean up trip on Facebook a couple of days ago and of how I had to remove around 300 so-called friends and place around 200 others on my limited profile!

I mean it is true that the internet brought value to our lives in ways we could never have imagined only a few years ago. It is also true that there is not one day which passes by without us “googling” for one thing or another however, I don’t think we have really thought of the consequences yet!

I Preach You Not!

I am not preaching here since I hate preaching in general! I am just trying to act as an eye-opener to some of the facts that we are neglecting just to reap the benefits of the internet:

1. The internet gave birth to social media; social media brought us addiction, mental issues, privacy concerns, compromised our lives, haunted us and so on!
2. The internet gave us more access to information; to just about everything, even people’s private lives, interests, thoughts, believes and whereabouts!
3. The internet allowed for more exposure; even to the bad, the worse and the worst – this opening us up to things we better not know or be aware of!

Those are just a few thoughts, off the top of my mind. I am sure there are many other facts that each one of you could think of as well!

Freedom: In Danger of Extinction!

Out of the many endangered species which are awaiting to be saved before they become utterly extinct, I wonder if our freedom is next!

Therefore, and in this spirit of freedom, I would like you to share with us any stories, events or situations you know or been through about the hidden dangers of the internet and its ability to slip away our freedom right from below our feet!