From now own Society is going to be looking at ways in which is technology is changing our lives today. This week we'll see how the Internet is allowing improved forms of free speech. Anyone with the correct resources can publish on the Internet and can freely express their thoughts and ideas. Few people have the resources in any other medium to reach an audience of millions and millions.

That is the power of the Net, any voice can be heard. For example the pro Mac-compatible Clone Petition (see our Cloning article) has, in about two weeks, collected around 10,000 signatures from all over the world. How many paper based petitions can claim a similar achievement? It has been done quickly and with only a small effort (put the page online, create a form and then publicise the page) compared to that needed to start a paper petition which needs many people and lots of paper!

But we must also remember that there is still friction against free speech on the Internet. Firstly there is still some cost to getting online - equipment costs (or finding a friend with the right stuff), phone and ISP costs as well as getting the skills to make a simple web page, though software is making that much easier. In comparison to printing a magazine however, getting online is cheap and easy. Magazines are also more likely to be censored but it does seem that with the onset of labelling and filtering software that the Internet could become less open too which is extremely unfortunate and should be avoided at all costs.

It is important to remember that we are a diverse race. Every single human is unique and the Internet is the first medium which has allowed every single citizen to express that through their homepages.And people with similar interests can now easily gather together in groups on the Web, on UseNet and in chat.

The Internet is enabling a new form of community to be built where people of similar interests come together so that one person might form part of several communities for each of his/her interests. Yet simultaneously while appreciating similarities the Net is also allowing us to celebrate our unique differences. That's the power of technology.

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by Jason P. Kitcat [e-mail him]