Does the lack of regulatory control on the internet lead to a state of adaptive and productive independence or is it fostering expression of, perhaps latent toxic behaviours and danger?

So this weeks question focuses on whether lack of regulation on the web leads to productive independence or the expression of toxic behaviours. The answer to that is, quite simply, both! Just like anything else ever invented, the internet is used for both good and bad, and most of the time it depends on the individual using it. Cyberspace - that 'non-existant' plane between 'here' and there', your computer and mine - has become a platform for people to completely and freely express themselves, without the limits and repercussions that would occur in meat space. For artists and musicians, it has become a platform for them to productively and independently promote their music, share their art and even gather funds in order to make these creative endeavors possible. Take the brilliant site ‘Kickstarter’, for example. Since Kickstarter’s launch in just 2009, 4.9 million people have pledged $796 million and funded 48,000 art projects. Wow! There’s also sites such as Wikipedia which allow you to access information on a wide variety of topics, free of charge; this alone will allow individuals to personally and professionally develop without the reliance on institutions and classroom based learning. In meat space, there’s a large amount of dependence on what other companies tell you. For example, you are only given as much information as BBC news wish to divulge on a situation, and often there is a slant on this news. The internet allows anybody the advantage to seek the information they want to know – they control what they want to see and hear, and this does indeed lead to a state of adaptive and productive independence. The problem with this comes the major increase of confirmation bias – people will only Google search the terms which support their point of view, so this alone can lead to a blinding effect on the internet.

Now for the downsides. With cyberspace comes anonymity, and with anonymity comes the freedom to say and do anything you would normally refrain from in meatspace. It is incredibly easy to become the victim of verbal abuse and harassment without even knowing the name and face of your attacker, and through the distance of CMC (computer mediated communication), it's equally very easy to insult somebody forgetting that there is a real person on the receiving side. The worst and most disturbing aspect of the internet is the increasing opportunities for paedophiles to gain access to child pornography, meet and groom children online and otherwise express behaviours that would normally be latent through a fear of detection. Behind the veil of the internet, these individuals are free to express these behaviours and it is extremely difficult to catch them. This is not to say that the internet has created paedophiles and cyber bullies, but more that cyberspace has given them a platform to freely express these aspects of their personality. The internet has even given murderers easier access to victims (see the craigslist killer). When addressing behaviour like this, it's clear that the internet does indeed foster dangerous situations.

There have been attempts to regulate the internet, and individual cases of people jailed through cyberbullying, however, these are just attempts. I don’t personally believe cyberspace could truly be regulated - even back in the days of ARPANET, employers tried to keep the use of the network to work based activities and that type of regulation failed. You also have to pose the question of who would regulate it, and how? In the words of John Perry Barlow 'legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are based on matter, There is no matter here…’ (A declaration of the independence of cyberspace, 1996). 

Whether this freedom helps aspiring artists and musicians, and individuals who want to take control of their own media, or is used as a platform for a new wave of crimes and endangerment that not even the government can successfully control, there is no doubt that cyberspace really has extended our abilities, for both good and evil. 

Until next time,
Philippa.