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Bruce Sterling: Internet (1993)

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Re: Bruce Sterling: Internet (1993)

#31

Post by thisiswrong »

sneak wrote: post #29
seiji wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Billions of people are connected to each other like never before All controlled by about 5 corporations at the top.

Did anyone ever really think it would be any different? At least we're still allowed to rent servers without a license, and make our own webpages.

>Did anyone ever really think it would be any different?

Er, Yes! I'd say no one back then would have ever wanted the internet to be as privatized, militarized, and censored as it is now.

We need to take the internet back into the hands of the people by adopting mesh networks. This is how the internet needs to become... and fast :

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/02/24/activists-creatin...

With the rise of cryptocurrencies there is huge potential to make mesh networking catch on around the globe :

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=300911.0

Non-technical users can already easily set up mesh networks using smartphone apps : http://opengarden.com/

Re: Bruce Sterling: Internet (1993)

#32

Post by anoncow »

sneak wrote: post #29
seiji wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Billions of people are connected to each other like never before All controlled by about 5 corporations at the top.

Did anyone ever really think it would be any different? At least we're still allowed to rent servers without a license, and make our own webpages.

To think that they can take away my "right" to make web pages is frightening.

Re: Bruce Sterling: Internet (1993)

#34

Post by eterm »

shubhamjain wrote: post #28

> The standard fee is about $40 a month -- about the same as TV cable service. I mean WOW! Americans were able to get internet at 40$ / month in '93? I recall, in 2003, my folks had to pay huge telephone bills even when my internet usage didn't exceed more than 2 hrs a day (dial-up times).

Oh, that $40 is the service cost. Even in '97 I remember paying £20/mo for the ISP, phone bills were then on top of that £20.

Then "freeserve" came out[1] and (gasp!) was free apart from the phone call. This was a major shift. There were downsides (only 1 pop3 email account, no newsgroups, no webspace), but it was free!

[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/177467.stm

Re: Bruce Sterling: Internet (1993)

#35

Post by coldtea »

jstalin wrote: post #19
eterm wrote: post #2

It hurts to read this. How did we lose the freedom, the idea that everyone is an equal peer? Was it just the realities of money, that an end user would rather pay a tiny fraction of the real cost of being truly on line and pay instead with their freedom? We used to laugh at AOLers because they weren't experiencing the real internet, because they sold themselves out to an online service. Are today's ISPs with their fi…

Wow, what's with all the frowns and sad faces? The Internet is perhaps the most incredible invention of humanity ever. Billions of people are connected to each other like never before, any information is at our fingertips, anyone who wants to create a web site is free to do so and post whatever they want (except maybe in China), commerce is available to the individual on a global basis, etc etc. Whining about the "go…

>Wow, what's with all the frowns and sad faces? The Internet is perhaps the most incredible invention of humanity ever. Billions of people are connected to each other like never before

And why is that a good thing in itself? Easy access to anybody else?

Ever stopped to think what kind of other side-effects that ability could have?

Re: Bruce Sterling: Internet (1993)

#37

Post by jstrate »

I'm surprised articles like this are still posted on HN/reddit. Like most of the tech you use on your iWidgets it has deep roots in the US defense budget. Networks, GPS, digital maps, etc. Surprising this is posted here as it doesn't fit with most of the evil military industrial complex narrative that comes with linked articles.

Re: Bruce Sterling: Internet (1993)

#38

Post by mseebach »

anoncow wrote: post #32
sneak wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did anyone ever really think it would be any different? At least we're still allowed to rent servers without a license, and make our own webpages.

To think that they can take away my "right" to make web pages is frightening.

"They" can't. Stop the scare-mongering. If you're not a good terms with your local government, you have dozens of alternative jurisdictions to select from. Even if you can't find a single friendly government to setup under, The Silk Road stayed up for over two years. China isn't even pretending they're not censoring the Internet, and their well-funded censorship agency still has to play whack-a-mole with VPNs.

Re: Bruce Sterling: Internet (1993)

#39

Post by crusso »

jstrate wrote: post #37

I'm surprised articles like this are still posted on HN/reddit. Like most of the tech you use on your iWidgets it has deep roots in the US defense budget. Networks, GPS, digital maps, etc. Surprising this is posted here as it doesn't fit with most of the evil military industrial complex narrative that comes with linked articles.

Like the rest of the US government, just because good things occasionally come from the largest financial expenditures on the planet doesn't mean that the balance of those expenditures are a good idea or that the taking of money for those expenditures is morally justifiable.

Re: Bruce Sterling: Internet (1993)

#40

Post by crusso »

eterm wrote: post #34
shubhamjain wrote: post #28

> The standard fee is about $40 a month -- about the same as TV cable service. I mean WOW! Americans were able to get internet at 40$ / month in '93? I recall, in 2003, my folks had to pay huge telephone bills even when my internet usage didn't exceed more than 2 hrs a day (dial-up times).

Oh, that $40 is the service cost. Even in '97 I remember paying £20/mo for the ISP, phone bills were then on top of that £20. Then "freeserve" came out[1] and (gasp!) was free apart from the phone call. This was a major shift. There were downsides (only 1 pop3 email account, no newsgroups, no webspace), but it was free! [1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/177467.stm

Almost all residential POTS lines in the US were flat-rate, so there were no charges here to make a local phone call. Granted, if you had to dial long-distance to connect to the ISP, then you paid toll rates for that.
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