Information Nomads and Community Surfing

I started to read the article Information Nomads and Community Surfing and was about to switch to a different topic. The first part seemed very technical and I wasn't retaining much of the information. I was thinking 12 more pages like this, no thank you. As I continued on a bit more the article started to pique my interest. It was talking about countries such as China, Burma and others censoring what is viewed and said on the internet and other media outlets. I knew that there where these types of situations going on but I haven't read too much about it. I also haven't searched out to read more about it. I was shocked that lives were actually being lost over this issue. I started to feel very sorry for the citizens of those nations. I was even thinking about the 'ole “It's great to be an American.” I was thinking that here in America, thank god we are so free to say and distribute whatever we want, with little to no limitations. Then I got to the part of the article that explains how the good 'ole USA was a huge culprit of censorship. How the corporations control the government that control the copyright and censorship laws. I knew some of this went on, but I was saddened by the extent to which it does happen. It makes more sense to me know that music bands, hackers, open source promoters and so on try to make visible the atrocities that the laws and regulations prohibit.