Freedom of the web

For college students, the Internet is very much an active part of our world. Many students have Facebook or MySpace accounts, and every student automatically has a Portland State e-mail account. Yet, with Microsoft’s recent outrageous bid to buy Yahoo, we have to wonder if the Internet as we know it could eventually change to our disadvantage.

To begin with, Microsoft’s extreme attempt to buy Yahoo seemed to come out of leftfield. Microsoft, an already powerful and rich company, is trying to get another piece of the successful Internet pie. Whereas Microsoft dominates PC operating systems and word-processing technologies in both Mac and PC arenas, and even cracked its way into the world of pocket PCs, the company has yet to conquer the Internet. Don’t get me wrong: Microsoft has made its impression on the Internet. Having acquired Hotmail, now known as Windows Live Hotmail, in 1997, Microsoft has had one of the longest-running free webmail services for over a decade. But with the Yahoo bid, what is Microsoft’s current goal and what effect will it have on us if it succeeds?

Google’s response to this hypothetical merger was firm and concerned, calling Microsoft’s bid “hostile” and “troubling.” The world that Google paints is bleak and pessimistic if Micsosoft were to add Yahoo to its Internet regime, which already consists of MSN, MSNBC and Hotmail. Yahoo has always been more successful than MSN could aspire to be, and Google, of course, destroys them all. Per Google, Microsoft seems to believe that through buying Yahoo, it would have control over enough of the Internet search engines and webmail in order to effectively combat Google.

But Microsoft forgets that Google and Yahoo have both represented the open capabilities that the web makes possible. They both offer free services, open-source software and unlimited access to anywhere on the Internet. This type of industry is contrary to the industry Microsoft comes from. Whereas Google and Yahoo are all about the freedom of the Internet, Microsoft is about corporate finance. If Yahoo was bought by a company like Microsoft, the public’s opinion of it would instantly change. It would be viewed as part of the corporate machine.

The concern for the Internet doesn’t seem to be in whether Yahoo can be more successful than Google, but rather in what could happen when a monopoly like Microsoft controls two large search engines in addition to the operating system. Say you have a PC with Windows Vista, Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer. If Microsoft could have a broader control of the Internet, could it feasibly force its users to use the Yahoo search engine to access the Internet? Could this corporation actually use search engines to yield a profit from users for simple Internet searches?

As students of the new millennium, we use the Internet like students of the past used libraries. Except now, the Internet is an endless abyss of information, open to all who can access it. If Microsoft, in its conveniently money-sucking empire, could control the access that its users have, students would have a crappy time trying to use the modern technology.

Fortunately, Yahoo rejected Microsoft’s $44.6 billion bid, claiming that the money wasn’t nearly enough. Other than the fact that $44.6 billion is the largest bid in American history for a corporate takeover, Yahoo insisted that it is worth more. As web users, we can be grateful for Yahoo’s rejection, but we can’t deny that this situation stirred the pot of Internet control.

The Federal Trade Commission has been trying for almost a year to pass Network Neutrality legislation, forcing Internet users to pay for services they use or download by the bit, not just by Internet service provider cost. Perhaps this has been better prevented by Yahoo’s contentious rejection, and pushed aside another possibility of making that legislation a reality. Or maybe the bid will only bring the issue to the attention of others who will try to pass it.

The Network Neutrality legislation would not only suck for students, but it would suck for everyone out there. Imagine watching a Youtube video that costs you money each time you see it, and the fee varies depending on the file size.

Be glad that Yahoo won’t give into the Microsoft machine, but be weary. This battle may be over, but the war carries on.