NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Why Google Could Be Dangerously Sucked Into the Wikileaks Backlash
Why Google Could Be Dangerously Sucked Into the Wikileaks Backlash
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000790.html
Greetings. In "Wikileaks Saga Reveals Governments' Hypocrisy, Deep
Fear of Internet" ( http://bit.ly/fgguFE ) and "Internet Realities:
Why There May Be Many More Wikileaks" ( http://bit.ly/hvHFCN ), I've
discussed some of the reactions to the recent Wikileaks disclosures,
and how the structure of the Internet makes it virtually impossible to
"stamp out" all copies of any material after they've been publicly
posted.
But that's not to say that some major network entities aren't at risk
from new calls to limit free speech based on claimed (even if not
demonstrated) "national security" and other grounds.
Thought experiment:
You're a national government. You're royally upset about the presence
of some information on the Internet that you'd prefer not be publicly
available. Perhaps it's politically inconvenient data, or simply
embarrassing. Whatever. You realize that you can't stamp it out at
the source -- it's already been widely mirrored, and anyone can find
copies with a simple search.
What do you do?
One potential answer may be painfully obvious. You try to find some
way to "control" Google -- and Bing, and any other search engines of
note.
The goal is clear enough. Like a book that has been incorrectly
shelved in a gigantic library, the fact that "unwanted" information
exists is far less troublesome if ordinary people can't easily find
it. And for many people, if they can't find something on Google, it
might as well not exist.
One of Google's "crown jewels" is the reverence with which they treat
the "indexing rules" that provide organic (natural, non-paid) search
results, even as their search quality engineers are continually and
carefully tweaking the algorithms' details.
Google (quite reasonably) doesn't like to "special case" searches --
they'd much rather find algorithmic solutions with more general
applicability to deal with a range of search situations.
And when Google is pushed from the outside to reveal internal
information or remove specific search results (by law enforcement or
whomever), Google laudably is known to be quite demanding of valid
court orders or other proper legal actions -- and even then the
internal debates over the appropriate response in any given case can
reportedly often be quite vigorous -- a very encouraging aspect
indeed.
Google correctly asserts that their search results are their opinions,
and that these results are subject to full First Amendment
protections.
But the rhetoric surrounding Wikileaks is spinning ever farther out of
control, with demands for investigations of the <i>New York Times</i>
and other mainstream media, proposed new laws to prohibit particular
forms of speech, and calls for "cyber-counterattacks" -- not to
mention utterly outrageous appeals for the illegal assassination of
Wikileaks' founder.
It doesn't take a giant leap of the imagination to see how Google,
Bing, and other search engines could become attractive targets --
legislatively or through more secretive demands -- for those officials
and other persons in various countries who are probably already
brainstorming about ways to restrict effective access to Internet
information, by limiting and controlling those firms that organize and
index the Web in the first place.
I hope this remains merely a theoretical, a thought experiment, a
figment of concern that never materializes into hard reality.
But I believe that the associated risks in this supercharged,
highly-emotional and often irrational political environment -- to
Google and others -- are very real. They'd fight back of course, to
the extent that it was legally possible to do so. But would they
prevail? I don't think it's safe to bet the farm on that assumption
these days.
It would behoove us all to start thinking right now about what we can
do -- particularly as individuals dedicated to freedom of speech and
civil rights, and especially for those of us that are technologically
inclined -- to help Google, Bing, and other search engines avoid and
if necessary mitigate the possibilities of future government attempts
to mutate them from honest indexers of Internet data into government
information control puppets.
This is a nightmare that we need to try prevent -- starting right
now -- before it even has a chance to be more than a glimmer in the eyes
of those who so desperately wish to remake the Internet in their own
fundamentally repressive image.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com)
http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
Co-Founder, PFIR (People For Internet Responsibility): http://www.pfir.org
Founder, NNSquad (Network Neutrality Squad): http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP (Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance):
http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Google Buzz: http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz