Democratize the Internet

[Uncle Joe]

We spoke to Ramesh Srinivasan, Bernie Sanders campaign surrogate and author of a new book on big tech companies, community-driven alternatives, and the battle for the future of the internet.

On Monday, November 25, Google confirmed that it had fired four workers for what it said were “clear and repeated violations of our data security policies.” In reality, the workers were attempting to organize a union. The company has also hired a union-busting firm, proving yet again that big tech corporations, though loath to admit it, are just like the others at heart.

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There would be no internet without public funding, public subsidies, and public investment, and that’s generally true across the board. Since then, the infrastructures of the internet have been appropriated by private corporations, for private benefit, to support private extractive purposes.

Not only has the public been left uncompensated, but the public is also increasingly manipulated, surveilled, disenfranchised, and exploited by the private corporations that have staged a takeover of the internet.

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Traditionally when consumers enter into relationships with businesses, there is a set of mutual agreements and understandings that you will not be manipulated by the services that you pay for. That relationship has been completely turned on its head when it comes to the way tech corporations function. They will do everything possible to take us down behavioral rabbit holes and seduce, addict, track, extract, and manipulate our experiences.

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https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/12/democratize-internet-ramesh-srinivasan-bernie-sanders-google