In the 17th-century Caribbean, piracy abounded. Crews of buccaneers based out of Tortuga and Port Royal snuck up on European ships to claim their prizes. These men formed the Brethren of the Coast, a loosely connected and blurrily defined society, living by their own set of rules. Articles of Agreement were drawn up on ships to set the rules for discipline, keep the captain’s power in check, and ensure the fair division of plunder. Leaving the realms of kings and queens in favour of the high seas, the 17th-century buccaneers sought to create their own world.

I’ve always loved the mythology surrounding pirates: the swashbuckling, the camaraderie, the freedom, but these words do not originate from any pirate journal or article of agreement, no these words were written several centuries later in response to the 1996 Telecommunications act in the United States of America. Penned by John Perry Barlow, “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” outlines the Internet as a free and common ground, which should not be subject to external regulation, much like the waters in which the buccaneers sought to make their fortune. Believing that the “Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed,” Barlow proclaims that the citizens of cyberspace were not consulted and did not consent to increased oversight in the digital world. Instead, he wished to be left alone.

An Internet Ruled by Corporations

Per Barlow’s wishes, government oversight has actually remained lax, as Crash Course explains in their segment on Media Regulation: “the internet…is largely self-regulating… Congress recognized that it changes so quickly that most laws and regulations will be out of date by the time they’re finally written.” However, a much more insidious giant crawled out of the space provided by the Telecommunications Act: Corporate mergers. As media has become increasingly less regulated over the past three decades, the industry has become more and more consolidated. We see it all the time, from Google’s purchase of Youtube in 2005, Meta snatching up Instagram in 2012, to Microsoft’s $26.2 billion deal to buy LinkedIn in 2016. This world of media giants has created a homogenized internet that Kate Wagner aptly described in her Baffler article “404 Page Not Found” as the “app-driven, hyper-conglomerate social media net.”

Looking Ahead

The days when the internet was akin to the 17th-century Caribbean are behind us. Just as shifts in economic production from maritime trade to plantation work forced buccaneers to either take up jobs on land or leave the Caribbean in search of new waters to explore, the increased consolidation of the web will ask us to either buy into what these companies are selling us or find our own way to turn the tides (Ha-ha. Do you get it?).

@CrazyGrazy98

On a Related Note:

Check out these clips from Last Week Tonight (HBO hit and one of my personal favourites) to learn more about corporate consolidation and net neutrality.