Social Media

Another main argument of Deibert is that there is a growing dependence in our nation, and soon the world, on social media.  This dependence on social media was started through the process of “digital convergence” that Professor Downey describes as the “transformation of the World Wide Web into the foundation of the communications infrastructure” (Downey p.3).  With the development of Web 2.0, the Internet could integrate more customizable features to allow for the evolution of online communication.  I believe this growing dependence on social media is due to the time-space distantiation.  This term is used to show that “modern societies have stretched further across time and space” to have interaction between people (van Dijk p.157).  People don’t have to be in direct contact to have an interaction because the Internet allows for continuous conversation across time and people.  I believe that the growing dependence on social media is strengthened by the convenience it creates for it’s users allowing for multiple interactions at the same time for the user without having to be physically present with them.  This helps maintain long distance relationships that, in the past, would have been difficult to maintain for those who didn’t live close to each other.  Deibert describes social media as “the online equivalent of the public square”, which I believe is the main reason for social media’s existence.  But there has been a growing use for social media as a “platform for political discourse” (Deibert p.106).  “In the early days of the Internet, state policy was either absent or deliberately hands-off” (Deibert p.108). Today, governments have completely changed their point of view.  They continuously try to secure and monitor cyberspace and pressure major companies to comply with their requests.  The private sector has gradually “influenced change in ‘Terms of Agreements’ to allow for monitoring, filtered information access, and possible control of freedom of speech” depending on the territorial jurisdiction (Deitbert p.108).  Deibert argues that governments don’t have the right to step in and take action into their own hands.  I would disagree with Deibert because with the growing dependence on social media, everyone is becoming an online citizen.  Companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter are growing bigger than they had ever expected.  I don’t believe the board of directors within these major companies should have the final say as to what their users can do, that is the job of their governments.  Although the users in free states, such as the United States, may be losing some of their human rights, people conducting illicit activities through an online medium should still be held accountable for the same laws created by their government.  Deibert is a man of the people and will argue for their basic human rights, but I think that cyberspace is in a unique situation and the governments need to be the ones deciding what to govern with the continuous growth and dependence of these online companies.  They have the resources and the power needed to attempt keeping cyberspace secure for each user.