Having agency is one of the most important aspects of being an author. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to keep agency on the web.
Under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation law, websites must receive user consent before placing cookies in your browser. Even if you’re outside the US, websites will still ask–what are they going to do, accuse you of living in the UK? Sometimes, you can press a button that rejects all unnecessary cookies. Other times, a website will be sneaky and hide the cookie settings in a tiny hyperlink that is just barely visible. Or they’ll give you no visible choice but “okay” in the matter.
Lindsey Kim wrote extensively about this matter in “Understanding and Maintaining Your Privacy When Writing with Digital Technologies”. The user can make certain choices in protecting their information, giving them a little more privacy. A little more agency on the web, even. However, as with any cool, shiny technology that the public falls in love with [see also: television], the corporate bodies soon rule the day. No matter what you do–use Firefox, maybe even Mullvad for good measure–the larger problem of people’s data being sold to advertisers is still there.
People’s agency on the web is limited in more obvious ways, too.
When you use X (neé Twitter), you have a space of 280 characters to write your thoughts. One video or four images. It used to be worse, too. Your layout? A circular profile picture. A banner the size of a mailslot. Room for a brief bio, one link, and a display name. It’s easier to get a hold of, but there’s a reason certain teenagers take to Neocities to express themselves. The wild west of the mid-to-late 1990s is very appealing to the young ones who feel trapped and wish they were there.
On that note, Martha Fay Burtis encourages messy learning. The act of allowing someone to claim a corner of the web and go nuts. It’s a solid activity to encourage. How many successful cultural touchstones have been formed by letting some college graduates and/or high school students have some free time [see: YouTube, Cartoon Network]? Rather than lament the loss of the old web, why not try to claim whatever agency you can? There’s more than you’d think.
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