In a deal announced last week, Internet heavyweight Google will purchase YouTube, the site that has revolutionized video sharing online and has become a major destination for Internet entertainment.
As much as this sounds great for people who want a more advanced way to find videos with Rollerblading injuries, in the grand scheme of things, it is just one more step toward the corporatization of the Internet.
YouTube, which was founded in February of 2005, quickly became an instant cultural phenomenon, initiating countless conversations about both its content and the existence of the site at all.
It was an independent stream of hilarious, poignant and, sometimes, borderline offensive clips. And though a Google news release promises to allow YouTube to maintain its own voice and brand, that is never the case. As soon as investors and millions of dollars in ad revenue come into play, the independence that characterized YouTube will vanish as quickly as so many others. Napster immediately comes to mind.
But the Internet is on the verge of losing destinations like YouTube, unconstrained and unconventional sites that fill cultural niches, even before some people realize there is a demand for anything of the sort.
The Net Neutrality Act, backed by telecommunications corporations like AT&T and Bell Corporation, would charge Web sites for the use of bandwidth. This means that the corporations who facilitate Web browsing could ' and would ' make the higher grossing Web sites (read corporate) easier and faster to load. The measure has not been passed yet, but it has powerful and rich (corporate) backers.
The Internet's beauty has a lot to do with its freedom, and the ability for anyone with a great idea or an innovative approach to come to the forefront. But if large companies have their way, it will soon be over. And we will have lost a lot more than a free YouTube.
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Pervasive and slow buying out of the Net threatens to stifle new, creative voices
