If you want my theory in short, this is whats happening, instead of the Internet growing as a whole and taking together every person that hops on to it, the Internet is fragmenting into smaller parts and breaking down the free transmission of data that used to happen.
The first major change that affected me when Google News switched to Google News India automatically when I would go to it. What happened is instead of all the international news showing up, my news gets India centric. Now I am more of a global person, its not that Indian news does not interest me, it sure does cause it affects me the most. But my perspective is narrowed down to one part of the world which I get to know anyway in the local newspapers.
Apart from not being able to see everything I want on a global level, YouTube that just launched YouTube India, I am not too sure how good the move is, perhaps it will benefit documentary makers and small scale filmmakers in India, but its also going to stop the exposure of a person to a completely new level of learning. The moment you get to YouTube India, you have the same stuff thats there on TV, people singing, reality shows and the scenes from bollywood movies. Why is the Internet replicating the same content that can be found on television? Wouldn't it be better for an Indian mind to learn much more from a YouTube.com than a localized version of the same. Perhaps YouTube will do what it claims to on their blog, act as a democratic platform for communication, but what if the democratic government does not allow them to give them the opportunity to give its Indian users the freedom the American version requires. YouTube bent over for the Chinese when they were asked to do it, well only time will tell, lets get the debates on YouTube, lets get the bribing cops caught, I wish all the self made Tehelka to do their democratic duty and give us the show of our lives!Another point to ponder on is if YouTube's move is basically to reap the benefits out of an emerging market. Rather than helping people learn and get exposed to global cultures and events. The doors are slowly being closed on these levels as Google's just turning out to be another big clog in the machine, with them narrowing down our exposure to information and making maximum profits out of it. Perhaps YouTube India could be the change required to get Indian who are glued to the idiot box online.
It would be much better for websites like Google to take active steps in educating the masses on global levels. This is what our Earth and this civilization really need at this point of time. Educate the people about to the numerous amounts of catastrophes happening, like climate change and the ones lurking around the corner.
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