I picked this up from 2600 magazine [winter edition] today: http://irrepressible.info
This is a campaign pro Internet free speech, backed by Amnesty International. It mainly consists of signing a petition that states you, too, want free speech to remain an alienable right [or, to many, to just become a right in the first place] in new forms of media as well as old - the Internet being under ‘investigation’ at this time.

Do I think this will be effective? Not really. Am I backing up any manifestation of free speech that I think might - if not anything else - raise awareness and *possibly* change something? You bet. Even if it means as little as spreading information through this blog or tagging whiteboards at University, you have to do something.

I know there are plenty of issues out there worth time and effort. Global warming, wars and famine. I also know why I believe Internet free speech is important:
1. awareness of other issues through this medium
2. advancement of the human race through technology
3. it is a technical environment that I know something about and could make a difference

The Internet is limitless in possibilities. Advertising, news, technology, games, networking… information. Things that make your life easier or things that annoy you or things you simply don’t care about. But it’s all there and why shouldn’t it? Let the government start taking down blogs of political dissidents and you won’t know what’s going on in Iraq; let Big Oil have put pressure on ISPs and bye-bye global-warming awareness websites. The list goes on and you know it. So how about you? What are you part of that can make a difference?

[tags]politics, technology, activism, hacktivism, think[/tags]