Sunday, February 15, 2009

Slightly Frightening, But Surely You Didn't Trust Any Of This Crap To Begin W/, Did You?

The Internet is in danger. If by Internet you mean money moving. 
How many of the as yet half-baked ideas in this article are going to cut down on our right to free expression?
What a new Internet might look like is still widely debated, but one alternative would, in effect, create a “gated community” where users would give up their anonymity and certain freedoms in return for safety. Today that is already the case for many corporate and government Internet users. As a new and more secure network becomes widely adopted, the current Internet might end up as the bad neighborhood of cyberspace. You would enter at your own risk and keep an eye over your shoulder while you were there. “Unless we’re willing to rethink today’s Internet,” says Nick McKeown, a Stanford engineer involved in building a new Internet, “we’re just waiting for a series of public catastrophes.”
We're always waiting for examples, but there's nothing solid here. Does the phrase "Y2K" come to mind? It's not a catastrophe unless we can't get on & find something vaguely amusing.

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