John Hodgman Quotes

Before the widespread rise of the Internet and easy publishing tools, influence was largely in the hands of those who could reach the widest audience, the people with printing presses or access to a wide audience on television or radio, all one-way mediums that concentrated power in the hands of the few.

Printing made us all readers. Xeroxing made us all publishers. Television made us all viewers. Digitization makes us all broadcasters.

Ordinary Chinese are also getting unprecedented access to information. More than half a billion Chinese now use the Internet.

I do not want to give the state and the authorities the right to ban things on the Internet - no ifs.

I don't think there's much distinction between surveillance and media in general. Better media means better surveillance. Cams are everywhere.

I like the immediacy of blogs and the democratizing effects of letting millions of voices bloom on the Web.

I think of us as journalists; the medium we work in is blogging.

If net neutrality goes away, it will fundamentally change everything about the Internet.

Net neutrality has been in place since the very beginning of the Internet.

We don't want privacy so much as privacy settings.

Blogging got the concept of personal publishing, but it didn't really take advantage of the network.

The key thing for us at Twitter is to recognize our role as the provider of this open platform for free expression ... to recognize that the speech is not our own.... We feel we have a duty to respect and to defend these voices on the platform. The platform of any debate is neutral. The platform doesn't take sides.

The U-Tube Moment: The cameras are always on.

The media have disproportionate control of the information in our society.

The Internet is uncontrollable. And if the Internet is uncontrollable, freedom will win. It’s as simple as that

Where States impose unlawful censorship through filtering and other technologies, the use of encryption and anonymity may empower individuals to circumvent barriers and access information and ideas without the intrusion of authorities. Journalists, researchers, lawyers and civil society rely on encryption and anonymity to shield themselves (and their sources, clients and partners) from surveillance and harassment. The ability to search the web, develop ideas and communicate securely may be the only way in which many can explore basic aspects of identity, such as one’s gender, religion, ethnicity, national origin or sexuality.

Facebook is a private company and, therefore, is entitled to whatever political biases it holds.

It's a wonderfully democratic method, publishing a text on the Internet.

I have every right to tweet.

Before social media, if I, as an individual wanted to publish something to the world, unless I could get some local TV crew to interview me, or I wrote an op-ed or took out an ad, I had no voice.

People's access to social media should not permanently be restricted.

A free and open Internet is essential to our democracy, economy, and modern way of life.

Internet users should be able to choose where to go online and which applications to use. Comcast, say, shouldn't be allowed to block Skype just because it could siphon the communications giant's telephone business.

One of the great debates about the Internet is whether it is making people more or less free.

It's only natural that the heavy users help contribute to the investment to keep the Web healthy. That is the most important concept of net neutrality.