(I'm not talking as moderator here, just reporting my own observations.) When a business newsperson writes as if he's been reading several years' worth of newsletters from Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, it's worth a note. Jonathan Weber writes for the Los Angeles Times, but I saw his op-ed "Venture could alter the net as we know it" in the Sunday Boston Globe. The basic thesis is one that CPSR people have often warned about: that traditional TV broadcasters and similar big-media will take over the Internet and turn it into another sterile, rigidly controlled medium. Weber talks about (AT)Home, a planned service that will use the Internet to deliver text/graphics/etc. It will try to be fancy and attractive to average people, but space on it has to be rented at high rates. Thus, it is more like a glorified cable TV service than the Internet we all know. The free-and-open Internet doesn't have to disappear; it will co-exist along the commercial services and probably be able exchange material with them (because they all will use the same protocols). Personally, I still have hope for a free exchange of views, because if people find out there's real life out there on the true Internet they won't be satisfied with the pay-for-a-sound-bite pseudo-Internet. There will be a problem, I think, if the pseudo-Internet costs significantly less than the true one. But a service that has to offer video-on-demand or some other form of enchantment should cost more than one that offers text at a slow rate. Weber makes another minor point. All the new graphic capabilities and complicated programming techniques are beginning to differentiate low-cost sites from high-cost ones, and possibly draw attention away from deserving non-profits and grassroots efforts toward glitzy entertainment companies. Once I again, in my opinion, we have to let people know where the real fun lies. Andy ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Andrew Oram - •••@••.••• - Moderator: CYBER-RIGHTS (CPSR) You are encouraged to forward and cross-post messages for non-commercial use, pursuant to any redistribution restrictions included in individual messages. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
