Google: the 5th Freedom?

From this morning's India Times editorial page:

Safeguarding freedom and human rights is traditionally associated with the dogged American pursuit of happiness. The US monopoly of freedom is now strangely the home turf of Google. The US is happy to back it, of course. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton's defence of Google last month in a reaction to Chinese cyber vandalism was proof that US foreign policy now extended to the internet.

Clinton added to the four basic freedoms that Franklin Roosevelt stated in the 1941 State of the Union address, against the backdrop of Hitlerian assaults on the democratic sensibility of the world. The four basic freedoms are freedom of expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear that "people everywhere in the world ought to enjoy." Clinton added the freedom to connect. As she said in her speech on January 21: "... ultimately, this issue isn't just about information freedom; it is about what kind of world we want and what kind of world we will inhabit. It's about whether we live on a planet with one internet, one global community, and a common body of knowledge that benefits and unites us all, or a fragmented planet in which access to information and opportunity is dependent on where you live and the whims of censors."Google-Haggle C P SURENDRAN, Feb 22, 2010, 12.00am IST

Hmmm, school filtering advocates, is the India Times on your blacklist?

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I read this in the morning paper, and two hours later, I am seeing sites like this in Mumbai - an astrologer outside the Mumbadevi Temple.

No value judgements here at all. I am simply amazed by human diversity - even in relationship to information!

Oh, I never thought I'd be able to say it, but I did tech support from India this morning!

Comments

[Clint Buhs]

I'm struggling to properly interpret the sentence, "The US monopoly of freedom is now strangely the home turf of Google." Why is the US considered to have a monopoly on freedom? Why is it strange that Google is here?

I just poured my first cuppa Joe for the day. Maybe I should read it again later.

[Todd Wandio]

Yes, Freedom exists for humanity not because of Google, nor the USA, nor any ideology, but because of the resilience of the human spirit, which refuses to be bound. One internet for a global culture, yes, but it must be a FREE internet, not controlled and manipulated by multinational conglomerates. I fear there is a price for the freedom offered by total subservience to Google, or to Apple, or to Microsoft, or to Coca Cola, or Disney. We haven't paid that price yet, but soon. How different would we be from the Chinese if web conglomerates decided to own our content?

By the way, I love your comment on human diversity. It must be an amazing dichotomy between technology and tradition in Mumbai.

[Erica | BrochuresPrintingOnline.com]

I agree that everyone should enjoy their rights to be free, it doesn't matter where you are in the world or who you are. We are all humans and we are all entitled to are own equal rights. Freedom to have access to the internet without manipulation of the big countries and companies.

Great post you got here!

[Doug Johnson]

Yeah, that didn't make much sense to me either, Clint. Even highly caffinated!

Doug

Hi Todd,

Yeah, I think its a toss up between corporate and political factions which is the great threat to our freedoms. Seems like a scary time.

Doug

Well stated, Erica.

Thanks,

Doug