You’ll find eerie parallels to the Internet and early radio.
Way back when radio first came out, most folks owned a transceiver — a radio that both broadcast and received. Eventually, big business (RCA) convinced the government that broadcasting must be licensed. So the transceivers were confiscated and all radios became receive-only.
Enter the Internet.
For the past few decades, the Internet has been a transceiver. Anyone can access the Internet to either receive or send information. Anyone can build their own website or start up their own online business. That’s great!
What isn’t great is the propensity for governments to curtail that freedom. You already see it happening in the totalitarian states, where Internet access is severely limited or censored. Despite the insistence of some techies, that could happen in a first world country as well. The goal is government control as much as it’s profit-making by the major corporations.
Seeing how the US Government is beholden to the interests of big corporations over individuals (refer back to RCA in the history of radio), my guess is that the era Internet as we know it is drawing to a close. While Mr. Berners-Lee’s thoughts (link below) are relevant and I agree with them, the power to make a buck reigns supreme.
Enjoy the ‘net while you can!
