Occupy the Internet: Our New Section to Kickstart a Discussion on Decentralized Web

Imagine a society where social, political or cultural discussion almost entirely happens in digital space. Imagine that the digital space where this conversation is happening is absolutely dominated and controlled by several private companies with arbitrary non-transparent policies and no accountability before the general public. Imagine that these companies can abuse their power with impunity, preying on users’ personal data, manipulating public opinion, shutting down the public conversation, etc.

This is the world we have been living in for over a decade. And it is our fault.

We need to start this conversation and we need to practice what we preach. forklog.media will build up its presence in alternative social media like Minds and Hive and promote the culture of decentralized discourse by personal example.

Read on to learn about the new section we are launching to cover all things decentralized web, but first a few words about why we deem this section necessary.

The Rogue Big Brother

Every large centralized platform collects more of your data than you would be willing to provide. They do it because they want to monetize you. They also do it to help the state actually spy on you.

They know a whole lot about you. They not only keep your search history and all your letters and conversations online, but they also have a good understanding of your offline life. They know where you live, they’ve figured out your shopping habits and workout routine.

The Good Censor

Every large centralized platform censors user content. Most of this censorship happens without any decisive input from the broader public or government authorities. And is based on each platform’s own arbitrary rules that represent some sort of corporate morality that is good for business but bad for consumers.

While human beings are concerned with morality, corporations virtue signal to make money. Since global corporations are driven by profit, their values may shift depending on the jurisdiction, and they often do not live up to their own proclaimed values when casting them away seems expedient. Neither is there much consistency within the same cultural context. For instance, while Youtube suppresses creators for making homophobic jokes, they were also caught filtering content created by LGBTQ creators. Both approaches together can only make sense if they are informed not by firmly held principles but by the aversion to controversy. In a corporatocracy, it is safer to not have any opinion whatsoever on certain topics.

While they all are complicit, the biggest bully in the neighborhood is without doubt Google. Google has at least nine different blacklists, but it goes beyond “safety concerns” and involves itself in global politics yet, when called out, emerges unscathed.

Back in 2018, in a leaked internal memo, Google basically came out as a self-proclaimed Good Censor, the Enlightened Despot who favors freedom in principle but can not really allow people to have it.

Earlier this month Google’s subsidiary YouTube started banning crypto-related channels again. This happened before and will no doubt happen again.

When social media platforms decide to manipulate or block access to information, reputations can be ruined and businesses can go bankrupt. And while online censorship is currently not regulated, we can do little about it other than supporting the decentralized competition.

The Future is Decentralized

We have been covering decentralized platforms that tackle the problems of privacy and censorship from the very inception of our publication. Recently we decided to make it an issue of our scrutiny.

Occupy the Internet is our new section where we shall compile articles pertaining to the nascent decentralized competition to the legacy web that has turned into a digital dictatorship. We shall follow the progress of decentralized platforms and provide in-depth coverage and hands-on reviews. We shall also keep an eye on what the big corporations are up to.

This section may seem to be a knee-jerk reaction to Google’s recent crackdown on the crypto industry. It sort of is. But our growing interest in decentralized social media and the #ForkGoogle movement are also a part of a broader trend. A trend toward our true cultural values: diversity of opinion, freedom of expression, and decentralization of power.

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