Reader Man of the Atom comments:
My bet is on a balkanization of the Internet, with major powers setting up their own ICANN and YP master servers (ICANN is nothing special or unique). Smaller nations would align under the larger nations — an Internet NATO, Warsaw Pact, and Sino-Soviet Bloc of nations that communicate. Communication between these blocs would likely be heavily regulated and monitored.
The UN would likely be minimized by any significant downturn in economic fortunes rather than elevated, and it’s losing mind share daily under the GE’s presidency.
That’s a timely forecast in light of the censorship craze that’s taken hold of Big Social. Also of note is that European governments are leading the pack in taking the tech oligarchs to task. The EU fined Google $5 billion a while back, and they’re poised to fine them again. Meanwhile, American pundits and politicians let social media monopolies violate our privacy and steal our content in the name of free enterprise. That’s another useful reminder that freedom is worth no more or less than the value of the objective goods you can get with it.
Could we really see the Worldwide Web split into regional walled gardens? Nations east of the Hajnal Line are building border walls to keep out invaders. It’s not a big leap from there to building virtual walls to keep out the poz.
Who knows? By 2030 all the cool kids who like anonymity and retaining ownership of their financial information might be surfing a walled web based in Hungary or Poland while leaving the old web to the festering Leftoid hivemind.
While you’re waiting for Orban to build his own internet with blackjack and hookers–just kidding; he’s a nice Christian boy–put your John Hancock on this petition calling for Trump to take action against Big Social. The GE has clearly telegraphed his intention to act, but it couldn’t hurt to encourage him.
Brian,
Here'so a cultural tidbit that highlights the Hanalei line.
In France a spinster used to be called la catherninette
Basically if a woman by 25 didn'the get married by the Feast of St Catherine (Nov 23 or 25) it was very difficult for them to get married.
To follow up, I repeat that we'll see real life soda pop soldier fighting in the future too.
xavier
xavier
The gardens don't need to be walled.
A browser company (like, say, Brave) could simply interpret a link to "TrulyFreeSpeech:YourPage" (picking out of the air) as going to the alternative system, and then you have it. ICANN and TrulyFreeSpeech can work on the same page. Other browsers would follow when enough people want it. This will happen when there's a really strong need.
"The gardens don't need to be walled."
Absolutely concur, but the single Internet – as it stands today – is very much a walled garden, built by various governments, companies, and groups of individuals, then taken over by the current band of Silicon Valley oligarchs, who currently man the battlements, with all of us inside the garden.
What some of the SV slime are beginning to discover under the tender ministrations of the GE is that we aren't locked in here with them.
They're locked in here with us.
And soon, Trump will smash 1 wall and build another.