[BNM] [OT] Take Back the Web

[Dave Phelan]

Hmm:
http://ironfire.org/takebacktheweb/index.php?title=Main_Page
"The Internet began as a collaborative, bottom-up effort, and the
diversity and innovation that this brought made the Net an exciting
system to interact with and a set of useful tools. But over time, big
business moved in and now most of the Web is owned by megalithic
corporations. Normal users find themselves disempowered and censored
by faceless institutions.
Its time to... Take Back The Web. "

versus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_internet#Creation_of_the_Internet
"The first TCP/IP wide area network was operational by 1 January 1983,
when the United States' National Science Foundation (NSF) constructed
a university network backbone that would later become the NSFNet.
(This date is held by some to be technically that of the birth of the
Internet.) It was then followed by the opening of the network to
commercial interests in 1985. Important separate networks that offered
gateways into, then later merged into the NSFNet include Usenet,
Bitnet and the various commercial and educational X.25 Compuserve and
JANET. Telenet (later called Sprintnet), was a large privately-funded
national computer network with free dialup access in cities throughout
the U.S. that had been in operation since the 1970s. This network
eventually merged with the others in the 1990s as the TCP/IP protocol
became increasingly popular. The ability of TCP/IP to work over these
pre-existing communication networks, especially that of the
international X.25 IPSS network, allowed for a great ease of growth.
Use of the term "Internet" to describe a single global TCP/IP network
originated around this time."

I'm very tempted to turn up with placards pronouncing the
re-Balkanisation of the Internet, and demanding the re-instating of
BITNET, Because It's Time!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitnet
:-)

Now, don't get me wrong, I think normal people engaging in normal
activities unmediated by big business is a good thing. But presenting
a workshop on grass-roots use of new web technologies as some sort of
effort to return to some halcyon ideal before big business took over
the internet is at best misunderstanding history.

You want to get out from under the corporate shackles of the Internet?
You've got to start with the undlying infrastructure. Start building a
next-generation Fidonet. Otherwise, your packets are going to be
traversing the  very same big-business default-free backbone as
everybody else.

Anyone fancy discussing this without insulting my mother?

Dave Ph
-- 
 Dave Phelan CCIE#3590   ICQ: 50180416    GSM: +44 (0)7776 168561
 dave.phelan at gmail.com                  http://www.davephelan.org
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