What's this Internet business, anyway?

USA Today reported on March 8 that 80% of respondents in a recent global poll said that they strongly or somewhat agree that access to the Internet is a fundamental right. About half of the United States respondents agreed with the statement. Around 85% of the respondents say that the Internet has given them greater freedom, up from 78% of other respondents from around the world. Slightly over half said that the Internet is a safe place to quote opinions, and only 21% said that the Internet is a good place to meet a potential partner.

The answers to the questions in the poll differed around the world. Those in China came first in agreeing that access to the Internet is a fundamental right; less than half around the world on average said that the Internet is a safe place to express opinions; over ten points more agreed that the Internet was a safe place to meet a potential partner.

It's interesting to see how these answers connect to one of our first class discussions on the potential of the Internet. We came up with four “structures” for the Internet—as infrastructure (the “Information Superhighway,”); as a public sphere; as another medium; and as a cultural place. We also discussed the “openness” of the Internet and the “closedness” of the Internet. The Internet as an open place suggested that the free exchange of ideas would not just be tolerated, but expected and welcomed; that attitude was reflected most in countries like China, in which Internet and information is restricted, and the Chinese responses that agreed that the Internet should be a fundamental right may have been a reflection on that. The “openness” suggests that borders between countries, ideas, and cultures are knocked down, which is something that China seems to be afraid of with their attempts to shut down the certain Web sites or attempts to filter searches for words like “Tibet.”

This example alone reflects how the Internet is seen around the world as a tool not just to access information, but to have the freedom to do so. In a country like China, where behavior is restricted more than it is in a country like the United States, the Internet is not just a place to Google someone’s name or Wikipedia a topic—it becomes THE place to see what’s going on in other places around the world.