It is the year 2024, almost halfway through the decade. Within a month presents while be bought, gifts while be wrapped, alcohol while be drunk and the new year will arrive. With it comes the facts of this day and age, five billion people are online and have internet. Somewhere around four or more billion people have a smartphone with internet access, and more time is spent on the internet than watching cable television. The internet is a strange invention, you don’t just consume content like a television, newspaper, or book, but contribute back as easily as typing a YouTube comment or liking a Tweet. It allows humans from any culture, any society, and any background to not only browse the internet, but shape and form it as well.

The Internet can change interaction

What does it take to make an internet site? All, it takes is an internet connection and a computer; either Windows, Linux, or macOS, and time. You first need to figure out the basics of HTML, then, some CSS, and if you are feeling lucky you can dabble with JavaScript. HTML is the backbone of the web. It stands for Hypertext Markup Language and is an electronic document that can be sent from the server to the client (you). It uses tags which look like “<h1>This is a Heading</h1>” to enable the transfer of information to your web browser. CSS is the look and feel of the web, it is how you can style your website to look like a graphic artist’s dream or nightmare. It allows the structure of the internet (HTML) to look different by affecting the styling of HTML elements. JavaScript is the interactivity like Facebook’s infinite scroll newsfeed. That at its basics is all that is sent from the server to your internet browser. That is how the web works. That is the complexity and simplicity of the internet.

Can anyone create a website?

Anyways, back to the point of this blog post, if anyone can make a website and anyone can be online, what does it mean to express yourself as a individual human being in the modern age? Are we content to simply consume the web, or do we also want to contribute back? And, if we want to contribute back, with the rise of large tech companies, how do we know that we can without being inhibited by censorship from companies or states? What are the rules underpinning the internet?

Does self expression cost money?

Sure, it is great to imagine that anyone can be on Facebook, but, in actuality, is it possible to be banned? Is it possible to be blacklisted from Google? And does Twitter really need to change its name. Is it possible to release a CD on Spotify and it never be heard? Is it every one’s dream who spends time on YouTube to have their own YouTube channel, in theory that is great, but imagine this scenario: you develop a channel as large as Mr. Beasts only to be thrown aside by the YouTube algorithm over something controversial. And, if that is possible, who is to say it is done for a good reason, whether on YouTube or elsewhere, and if that can be done, is it being done as we speak? Right now, are there people who are banned from Facebook? Websites that are banned by Bing? Or even YouTube channels blacklisted for no good reason. Even if there is a good reason to ban someone, where does self-expression start, and censorship stop? What are the rules of the actuality of the internet?

If the rules aren’t known, how do we know they are being followed?

At the end of the day, the world of the web is managed by a few dozen large internet companies for the western English language web. The rules are often stipulated in their terms of service but those are long are complicated to read, even if they are read, are they what is actually followed or is there some element of the unknown involved. When you have poured your heart and soul into your chosen hobby and want to share it with the world, why should a corporation theoretically have the right to destroy your life and your means of individual self expression. With little to no court cases based around internet organizations blacklisting individuals or even small companies, we are left with two options: either they don’t ban people, or they do. If they don’t, how come? What are the actual rules of the world wide web. And, if they do, how is that building an open an inclusive society of the future. How is that respecting the rights of the individual and the whole of society.

The web is a fundamental human right

I believe, that if what we are aiming for with the internet is to build a better future than is possible without digital technology, then there needs to be some actual laws underpinning of human self-expression on the internet. If it were possible to establish such laws that all web sites must follow, then we would need to make sure that the laws are actually followed by every major web site. At the end of the day, there are laws that involve website cookies and internet privacy that are commonly followed on the web, but as our civilization goes online, I hope we can ensure no one gets left behind. With the dawn of the digital comes a change in how we live our lives and how we interact with each other. Individual self-expression is just as important as money, and our humanity needs to be respected as we express ourselves online and embark on the frontier of tomorrow.