I came across a very good article today called "World of Ends" with a sub-title of "What the Internet Is and How to Stop Mistaking It for Something Else."
Of course its not the sort of thing that will really explain to your mother, or grandmother what the Inner-Net is. However it is the sort of thing you should read and inwardly digest before you:
- even think about working for a company that has a "really great idea" for exploiting the Internet for commercial gain,
- even think about supporting government intervention in what the Internet does, is or can be used for
- even think about letting corporations try to assert their right to own or control the Internet or any piece of it.
The most important thing this article tells us is the day that governments or corporations manage to hijack the Internet protocols for their own gains then its the day we all need to go off and create something new to replace it. Sure they are currently trying to embed all kinds of spying and control devices in various application layer protocols and devices using the Internet, however as far as I know the Internet Protocol itself remains pretty pure and free of government and corporate idealogical infections.
To misquote a famous bumper sticker, "You'll take my Internet when you pry it from my cold dead fingers"
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