We Have Rights

There needs to be policies put into place about how people can use information, what parts of the information and for what ends. We need to take the time to look at specifics and understand what their benefits and harms are, what their potential is in terms of finding ways to use other’s intellectual property for the greater good instead of limiting what can be learned from one another. The policies put into place often seem to favour the corporate side, which closely mirrors the U.S. model. We need to find a way for individuals and corporations in Canada to share knowledge that is useful to one another, while making sure the right people are accurately compensated and/or recognized for their work. 

While the internet is of course not owned by anyone, there are a few huge companies who have taken over and are governing it. So, as these companies are controlling the shape of the internet now and its direction for the future, we need to think of ourselves as shareholders of these companies and therefore as part-owners of the internet. Of course the voices of large corporations are much louder and therefore usually the ones favoured in policy making- but there are far more of us than there are of them. So if we all actually exercise our rights as part-owners, we may be able to sway things in our favour and create the digital economy that Canada needs.