Mentatul

Tag: internet

  • How Corporations Get to Own the Internet

    How Corporations Get to Own the Internet

    Once upon a time, governments were major stakeholders in most large-scale technological and scientific ventures. Such projects were either built directly by the government, or by companies in which the people had a lot of say. But all that is far behind us. Now-a-days, government isn’t exactly “the people” anymore. And now, it’s corporations who build the telecommunication infrastructure for tomorrow:

    http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-subsea-speed-monster-a-cable-16-million-times-faster-than-your-broadband/^

    I find it rather sad that as I’m typing this, I am pondering which is worse: having my digital life in the hands of corporations that will exploit it however they see fit, or (/and?) allowing governments to keep encroaching on our privacy and freedom? It’s becoming harder to distinguish between the two, especially as corporations have proven time and again that they can easily buy government.

    It’s enough to look at how the political freak-show in the USA (not even a full year into its tragic, 4-years lifespan), is already spreading its tentacles across our civilization like a plagued octopus. The monstrosity is currently busy destroying what was left of “the land of the free”. Here’s how the American FCC (Federal Communications Commission) plans to eliminate the Net Neutrality^ laws that the Obama administration painstakingly managed to get through:

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-other-thanksgiving-turkey-the-fccs-stealth-net_us_5a1964dfe4b0250a107bff83^

    They call it “Restoring Internet Freedom”, and as the article above points out, the name is laughable. But then again, given the state of education worldwide (which leads to generalized compliance), governments can go on with passing draconian laws using these disgusting euphemisms.

    Here are some even better law names that I’m putting forward so that governments can use in the coming decades:

    “Labor Market Liberation” – a law to eliminate those pesky minimum wages.

    “Nutritional Defense Initiative” – outlaws all ecological products, so that there can be no competition to industrialized, dangerous food.

    “Empowering Citizen Security” – a law that allows citizens to spy on each other for as long as they report to a central authority. I bet they’re going to call that central authority the Situational Technical Assistance for Solidarity Initiative (STASI).

    I can come up with more, but I think I made my point.

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  • A Birth of Art

    A Birth of Art

    More than a bit of time has passed since April Fools’ Day 2017, but this year there was at least one fantastic initiative that has to be remembered. Reddit launched an amazing 3 day experiment it called Place. You can see it and read all about it in this excellent article:

    http://sudoscript.com/reddit-place/^

    Stuff like this fills me with hope for the future of humanity. We’ve made it a long way and we sure can make it much further than this. What I see in Reddit’s Place is a snapshot of the Internet’s intellectual health, which I consider to be extremely important for our future. Things seem to be not as bad as I thought and this is wonderful.

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  • The Internet Is 25 Years Old

    The Internet Is 25 Years Old

    Few discoveries have changed mankind so much in so little time. Even fewer have their future in as much doubt as the Internet. Even though the Internet is still technically open and anybody’s public thoughts can be accessed, it doesn’t mean that worthy information can actually reach the people that need it.

    Search engines have become gate-keepers of sorts while social networks transform themselves into walled gardens. Mobile apps are also filtering out the open web into cute little boxes where companies keep their users enthralled:

    http://www.wired.com/2016/08/25-world-wide-web-still-long-way-reality/^

    Some time ago, I wanted to use Google’s AdWords to publish an advert for one of my articles. I was censored. Why? Because my article was titled “The Virtual Reality Revolution^”. And of course, nobody in the establishment likes to see the world “revolution” printed anywhere, right? Right?

    And while we’re at it, check out this article^ I wrote about 3 months ago regarding social threats to the Internet (as opposed to the ones that are featured in this posting, which I’d classify as economical and technological).

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  • The Uncertain Future of the Internet

    The Uncertain Future of the Internet

    As one of the most, if not the most powerful force for change, the Internet’s future is a cause for concern. In the past decade, governments and corporations have increasingly encroached upon our freedom and privacy. These entities will use every possible excuse to rein-in the transformative power of the Internet.

    As more people get connected, the Internet is becoming a mirror of our society. The good, the bad, the beautiful, the horrible, we can all find it online. Our society isn’t perfect. With such an educational system, who can even expect it to be? But regulatory bodies can now motivate various restrictions as being “for our own good”, this being one of the age-old excuses that our masters have used when trying to deprive us of something:

    https://www.rt.com/op-edge/345063-internet-mousetrap-shut-freedom/^

    But here’s the good news. The Internet is still at its very beginning. The fifty or so years^ that have passed since the first research into packet switching might seem like a lot. But really, compared to other technologies that have been around for hundreds or thousands of years, it’s not. Here’s a good article driving this point home:

    http://new.www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-kelly/the-internet-is-still-at-the-beginning_b_10321958.html^

    We’re still in danger of governments depriving us^ of what is becoming our voice as a species (more than 40% of the world population is now online). Keep this in mind next time you read about efforts to protect the freedom and independence of the Internet.

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