Forget Tibet; Free the Content
SEARCHING FOR MEANING By Kevin Ryan, Search Engine Watch, Jan 7, 2009
Columns | Contact Kevin | Biography
While the world struggles through an economic crisis, hoping for positive change and financial growth, China's government is once again leading the charge in perhaps the most important crusade since the dawn of the World Wide Web.
It seems the Chinese government is upset about adult content and wants to free its people from the harmful side-effects that "on-demand everything" imposes on society. It's about time!
You see, getting access to any type of racy content at any given time places an undue bandwidth burden on the Internet, slowing the growth of honest-to-gosh content. For too long, Internet users have received instant gratification when their focus should be elsewhere. Let's explore.
The Real Problem
The Internet was supposed to provide unparalleled community access and help build societal constructs that productively enhance our species. It hasn't. Instead, people are searching for porn when they should be spending time with their families. They're looking for racy pictures of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears when they should be exercising fiscal discipline.
Our society has degraded in the years since the Internet launched, and most of our problems can be sourced back to Internet pornography's penetration into our daily lives. The instant availability of whatever pops into our heads has created an on-demand generation of potential sexual deviants, and it's high time someone has stepped up to try and stop it.
The symptoms of instant gratification have spilled over into other aspects of our lives as well. People don't fear God anymore because they can get access to contrarian theories like that "evolution" bollocks.
Who's Responsible?
At times like these, laying blame should be a distant second to seeking out viable solutions to correcting the real problem. Naturally, there will be a few casualties along the way.
In China, for example, search engines are responsible for the content to which they provide links. This means anytime the Chinese government decides that a certain type of content isn't worthy of its people, they can tell search engines not to list them.
If search engines continue to provide links to objectionable content, they will be shut down. This is unacceptable, because search sites will lose valuable advertising revenue and won't be able to provide links to content that's appropriate for human consumption. Each and every time the Chinese government has told search engines what to do, they've had little choice but to lie down and comply.
If the world financial crisis has taught us anything, it's that people can't be trusted. If you give people the means to access anything they want, they will do it; even at their own peril.
Acta Non Verba
The time is now for actions, not keywords. Censorship and control worked for the Vulcans, so there's no reason to believe it won't work for humans as well. Coincidentally this week, Catholic Google launched, promising "the best way for Catholics to search the web."
Restraint and personal discipline are a joke. People need to be told what to do. When you can't tell people what to do anymore, you need to restrain private enterprise so that you can control your population's actions. For example, whenever a search is conducted for "Paris Hilton Oops picture," the Catholic Google results page can suggest seeking counseling or provide links to family-oriented sites.
China's definitely got the right idea. If we're to fix the problems of our society, we must stamp out Internet pornography and anything else that might pop up as a result of it. We can get back to the good, clean society we had before the Internet launched.
The problem of societal degradation that efficient search has caused can be corrected. I, for one, applaud the Chinese government's ongoing efforts and in no way think these efforts to be futile, a foolish waste of time, and absolutely missing the point.
» Print this article » E-mail a colleague » Send feedback
Biography
Kevin M. Ryan is the CEO of strategic consulting firm Motivity Marketing and chairman of the Search Engine Strategies Advisory Board. He's a seasoned search and advertising industry veteran. His former roles include VP, Interactive Media for the Interpublic Group agency Wahlstrom Interactive, and CEO of Kinetic Results, a 2006 Advertising Age Top 20 search engine marketing firm.
Kevin recently founded Motivity Marketing, and has published over 200 articles on search and interactive marketing. His former client roster includes notable brands including Rolex Watch, USA, State Farm Insurance, Farmers Insurance, and the Hilton Hotels brands. Additionally, Kevin has volunteered his time for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), and several regional non-profit organizations.
Article Archives by Kevin Ryan:
» Forget Tibet; Free the Content - January 7, 2009
» What Will 2009 Bring Us? - December 17, 2008
» An Open Letter to Retailers Concerning Black Friday - December 3, 2008
» Yahoo's Next Move - November 19, 2008
» Must We Unlock the Deep Web? - November 12, 2008
» Suing Google over Yahoo - November 5, 2008
» More Articles by Kevin Ryan
We want to know what you think about Kevin Ryan’s column, "Forget Tibet; Free the Content". Rant. Rave.
» Voice your opinion
No comments:
Post a Comment