“Transforming” Your Internet Business

By Jen McGahan • April 2nd, 2010

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In spite of cybersecurity czar for the Obama administration Howard Schmidt’s assertion that “there is no cyberwar,” the winds of change are blowing and I have a hunch Internet businesses are about to feel very chilly.

So forget for a minute that hackers are working right now to bring the Internet to its knees, and with it our infrastructure of banks, stores, electrical power, telecommunications, etc…Mr. Schmidt says it’s no big deal, and he wears the czar hat so I happy to believe him for the moment.

Instead, imagine the needs of our ever-growing Federal government. When I think of the hunger and jealousy for more money and power, I always picture Tolkien’s Eye of Sauron in the Lord of the Rings, instantly riveted on the ring whenever Frodo puts it on his finger. As it is now, the Internet is practically the embodiment of liberty and capitalism, in all its untethered glory… Anyone can make money and tell stories and lie and preach and chase dreams and do evil and get into all sorts of trouble; all in this boundless unmonitored field of work and play. Everyone has access to it; and it’s virtually free. This must not be.

Here is an excerpt from Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s address Remarks on Internet Freedom to The Newseum in Washington, DC, January 21, 2010: “Now, the principles I’ve outlined today will guide our approach in addressing the issue of internet freedom and the use of these technologies. And I want to speak about how we apply them in practice. The United States is committed to devoting the diplomatic, economic, and technological resources necessary to advance these freedoms. We are a nation made up of immigrants from every country and every interest that spans the globe. Our foreign policy is premised on the idea that no country more than America stands to benefit when there is cooperation among peoples and states. And no country shoulders a heavier burden when conflict and misunderstanding drive nations apart. So we are well placed to seize the opportunities that come with interconnectivity. And as the birthplace for so many of these technologies, including the internet itself, we have a responsibility to see them used for good. To do that, we need to develop our capacity for what we call, at the State Department, 21st century statecraft…

We want to put these tools in the hands of people who will use them to advance democracy and human rights, to fight climate change and epidemics, to build global support for President Obama’s goal of a world without nuclear weapons, to encourage sustainable economic development that lifts the people at the bottom up.”

So, apply these words to your business. Is Mrs. Clinton smiling on you right now, or do you fall a bit short?

When she says, “we want to” do this and that, does she mean that “we want to” reach, teach, train, or give computers to certain people based on race, creed, gender, or age?

Does she mean “we want to “ apply different prices for different groups of people?

Does she mean “we want to” levy taxes on Internet usage according to content or certain traits of the user?

Does she mean “we want to” tag or blacklist certain websites because of their popularity among certain groups of people and their opinions, or because it falls under the “wrong” sector of the economy?

Forgive me for the small leap, but it’s really not difficult to imagine this scenario:

I make a certain type of cookie and start marketing it online. The cookies are scrumptious; very caloric, choc full of fats, carbs, and sugar. Now:

Is the FDA going to slap a warning on my website so that high-risk groups are warned off them?
Will my domain name be required to carry some sort of designating suffix like “.fat”; forever pigeonholing my brand in a negative light?
Will I only be permitted to take orders during school hours when children are less likely to be on the Internet?
Would I need to limit my sales to certain states or zones with “healthy credits” or some other “equalizing” factor to offset the inherent decadence of my product?
Will I be required to shut down my shop during certain holidays so that I don’t offend a vocal minority?
Will I be required to disclose information about my business like vendors, or photographs of my kitchen or employees?
And how many new government jobs will all this oversight create?

When the roving eye of this Federal Government falls on your website, will your website get its nod of approval?

Cookie photo from GrinandBakeIt.com, a delightful website.