Internet Governance
It is argued that the internet is a heavily regulated and controlled entity with strong statements like “The founding principle of the Net is control, not freedom. Control has existed from the beginning” and such.
I can agree in principle that there are certainly measures in place to have some degree of order to protect functionality (ISOC, ICANN) these are neutral institutions which govern at a very high level the general flow and the way in which information is exchanged.
The internet was never designed with freedom in mind is a sentiment that I completely agree with. ARPANET was originally a closed military network built in the event that a catastrophic military strike was suffered, communication could still continue.
Perhaps I am only challenging the semantics of the arguments presented, but I believe control in any sense of the word was lost with decentralization. The general information flow and the way data is exchanged can be governed, this is true, but the end result is that there are still many unsavoury elements on the internet that if it was at all possible to eliminate, it would have been done by now.
The sheer amount of information and users involved is stupifying. I don't believe it will remain an impossible feat forever, but I don't believe we have the technological means to make that a reality just yet.
I can agree in principle that there are certainly measures in place to have some degree of order to protect functionality (ISOC, ICANN) these are neutral institutions which govern at a very high level the general flow and the way in which information is exchanged.
The internet was never designed with freedom in mind is a sentiment that I completely agree with. ARPANET was originally a closed military network built in the event that a catastrophic military strike was suffered, communication could still continue.
Perhaps I am only challenging the semantics of the arguments presented, but I believe control in any sense of the word was lost with decentralization. The general information flow and the way data is exchanged can be governed, this is true, but the end result is that there are still many unsavoury elements on the internet that if it was at all possible to eliminate, it would have been done by now.
The sheer amount of information and users involved is stupifying. I don't believe it will remain an impossible feat forever, but I don't believe we have the technological means to make that a reality just yet.
posted by jEW at 5:56 PM
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