To keep the Internet as the socially empowering and productivity-boosting tool it is today, we should guard against government attacks on internet freedom.
Late last month, the American based non-governmental organisation Freedom House released the latest edition of its annual Freedom on the Net report, which assesses the extent to which citizens in 65 countries are able to access and use the internet without legal and other restrictions.
The report establishes an internet freedom index using measures capturing obstacles to access (including government blocking of apps and technologies), limits on content (such as filtering and blocking websites and social media censorship), and violations of user rights (through surveillance and legal restrictions of online activities).
On a global scale, internet freedom had deteriorated for the fourth consecutive year, Freedom House said.
That is mainly the result of repressive tactics adopted in autocratic, or increasingly autocratic, regimes such as China, Russia and Turkey, which included blocking political dissent through social media, increasing surveillance of web users, and governments putting pressure on internet providers and online companies to censor themselves.
While the merits of the disclosure of United States National Security Agency activities by Edward Snowden continue to be debated, it is unfortunate that governments around the world are using the NSA revelations increasingly as an alibi to crack down on free expression over the internet.
And there have been some recent concerns raised about the effective future Balkanisation of the World Wide Web resulting from the United States, which has traditionally dedicated itself to promulgating an open internet, considering scaling back its role in global internet governance of web addresses and domain names.
Australia was ranked the 17th-freest country for internet access and usage — a position it has held the past few years — behind Iceland, Estonia and Canada in the international rankings of internet freedom in 2014.
This country is lauded for its relatively affordable, high quality internet and digital media access, and people's ability to discuss controversial and sensitive political and social issues freely online without the threat of political persecution.
However, the latest report points to some stormy clouds on the horizon, which threaten to wash away some of Australia's prized internet freedom.
The mandatory data retention proposal announced by the Abbott government is a key threat, with Australian internet service providers (ISPs) obliged to monitor, collect, and store information from all users' communication for the previous two years.
Aside from the obvious concerns about the costs borne by ISPs to adhere to the government's dictates, with the costs to flow to consumers, the objective of the proposal is proving to be a worrisome moving target.
Initially, the federal government suggested mandatory data retention was necessary to help fight terrorism and maintain national security.
But since the proposal was suggested, politicians and law enforcement agency representatives have said data retention might also be used to target general crime, and even deal with civil matters such as copyright infringement.
It is proposed that government agencies could access our data without a warrant, which could represent a significant threat to our internet freedom.
The government has also proposed draconian measures to stymie online copyright infringement and illegal downloading.
These include requiring ISPs to issue warnings to users who infringe copyright when downloading songs, movies and other material, using a graduated response of severity that could culminate in an ISP disconnecting users from the internet.
Another suggestion is that ISPs be obliged by the government to block websites that enable the downloading of pirated material.
These options come with the risk that due process would be violated, since copyright infringements are not always clear, and that website blocking would resemble the internet restrictions seen commonly in unfree parts of the world.
The public policy discourse is regrettably littered with other proposed inhibitions on our freedom to use the internet.
They include, for example, cyberbullying proposals to take down social media and other online content deemed harmful to children, and restrictions on commerce if the GST is extended to smaller online transactions.
The astounding properties of the internet in altering our economic structures and breaking down social barriers across the globe stands as a shining beacon in a world in which governments have eroded economic and social freedom.
Consider how important our internet freedom is, and how much we take it for granted.
Thanks to the internet and the digital economy, we access vast amounts of knowledge that were once enclosed in the world's great libraries, accessible to a few.
The internet allows us to truck, barter and exchange locally, nationally or globally at the press of a button and without massive search and other transaction costs.
Our great industries have received a productivity boosting shot in the arm, thanks to e-commerce and modern computing technology, while old modes of production have been swept away by the automation of entire economic processes.
As a consequence of the internet we can build social capital and shorten social distances, by conversing with other people, regardless of our nationality, ethnicity, religion, age, gender, or sexual preference.
The internet is so wonderfully prevalent in our modern, wired — and increasingly wireless — lives that we can even find love online.
It is true that technology throws up a host of challenges to conventional modes of living, and raises fresh concerns about privacy and safety among other issues.
But we should be reticent to adopt precautions against the continuing evolution of the internet.
The stance of governments towards the internet should generally be to embrace a "permissionless internet", in which regulators and other authorities embrace a non-prescriptive, hands-off approach to innovations.
This would allow skilled entrepreneurs to offer even more online, and innovations to transform our lives for the better, while losing none of the flexibility associated with public education campaigns and nimble self-regulation to deal with online challenges as they arise.
With the new year quickly approaching, let us hope that 2015 will be a year in which Australia, and the world, makes great strides toward more internet freedom.
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