MESSAGE
| DATE | 2006-05-30 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] The End of Democracy according to the NY Times (DRM is Theft)
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Editorial Observer Why the Democratic Ethic of the World Wide Web May
Be About to End
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Article Tools Sponsored By By ADAM COHEN Published: May 28, 2006
The World Wide Web is the most democratic mass medium there has ever
been. Freedom of the press, as the saying goes, belongs only to those
who own one. Radio and television are controlled by those rich enough to
buy a broadcast license. But anyone with an Internet-connected computer
can reach out to a potential audience of billions.
This democratic Web did not just happen. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British
computer scientist who invented the Web in 1989, envisioned a platform on
which everyone in the world could communicate on an equal basis. But his
vision is being threatened by telecommunications and cable companies, and
other Internet service providers, that want to impose a new system of fees
that could create a hierarchy of Web sites. Major corporate sites would
be able to pay the new fees, while little-guy sites could be shut out.
Sir Tim, who keeps a low profile, has begun speaking out IN favor of
"net neutrality," rules requiring that all Web sites remain equal on
the Web. Corporations that stand to make billions if they can push
tiered pricing through have put together a slick lobbying and marketing
campaign. But Sir Tim and other supporters of net neutrality are inspiring
growing support from Internet users across the political spectrum who
are demanding that Congress preserve the Web in its current form.
The Web, which Sir Tim invented as a scientist at CERN, the European
nuclear physics institute, is often confused with the Internet. But like
e-mail, the Web runs over the system of interconnected computer networks
known as the Internet. Sir Tim created the Web in a decentralized way
that allowed anyone with a computer to connect to it and begin receiving
and sending information.
That open architecture is what has allowed for the extraordinary growth
of Internet commerce and communication. Pierre Omidyar, a small-time
programmer working out of his home office, was able to set up an online
auction site that anyone in the world could reach — which became
eBay. The blogging phenomenon is possible because individuals can create
Web sites with the World Wide Web prefix, www, that can be seen by anyone
with Internet access.
Last year, the chief executive of what is now AT&T sent shock waves
through cyberspace when he asked why Web sites should be able to "use my
pipes free." Internet service providers would like to be able to charge
Web sites for access to their customers. Web sites that could not pay
the new fees would be accessible at a slower speed, or perhaps not be
accessible at all.
A tiered Internet poses a threat at many levels. Service providers could,
for example, shut out Web sites whose politics they dislike. Even if
they did not discriminate on the basis of content, access fees would
automatically marginalize smaller, poorer Web sites.
Consider online video, which depends on the availability of higher-speed
connections. Internet users can now watch channels, like BBC World, that
are not available on their own cable systems, and they have access to
video blogs and Web sites like YouTube.com, where people upload videos
of their own creation. Under tiered pricing, Internet users might be
able to get videos only from major corporate channels.
Sir Tim expects that there are great Internet innovations yet to
come, many involving video. He believes people at the scene of an
accident — or a political protest — will one day be able to take
pictures with their cellphones that could be pieced together to create
a three-dimensional image of what happened. That sort of innovation
could be blocked by fees for the high-speed connections required to
relay video images.
The companies fighting net neutrality have been waging a misleading
campaign, with the slogan "hands off the Internet," that tries to
look like a grass-roots effort to protect the Internet in its current
form. What they actually favor is stopping the government from protecting
the Internet, so they can get their own hands on it.
But the other side of the debate has some large corporate backers,
too, like Google and Microsoft, which could be hit by access fees since
they depend on the Internet service providers to put their sites on the
Web. It also has support from political groups of all persuasions. The
president of the Christian Coalition, which is allied with Moveon.org on
this issue, recently asked, "What if a cable company with a pro-choice
board of directors decides that it doesn't like a pro-life organization
using its high-speed network to encourage pro-life activities?"
Forces favoring a no-fee Web have been gaining strength. One group,
Savetheinternet.com, says it has collected more than 700,000 signatures
on a petition. Last week, a bipartisan bill favoring net neutrality,
sponsored by James Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin, and John
Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, won a surprisingly lopsided vote in
the House Judiciary Committee.
Sir Tim argues that service providers may be hurting themselves by
pushing for tiered pricing. The Internet's extraordinary growth has been
fueled by the limitless vistas the Web offers surfers, bloggers and
downloaders. Customers who are used to the robust, democratic Web may
not pay for one that is restricted to wealthy corporate content providers.
"That's not what we call Internet at all," says Sir Tim. "That's what
we call cable TV." More Articles in Opinion »
-- __________________________ Brooklyn Linux Solutions
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