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Tuesday, February 6, 2007
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The freedoms built in to the net are under attack like never before, argues regular columnist Bill Thompson.
The launch of Windows Vista last week was accompanied by widespread criticism from advocates of open systems, open networks and the free flow of information.
Particular attention was lavished on the digital rights management (DRM) features of the new operating system, the tools that determine whether you can play or copy video or audio on your computer.
[...]
The internet that we know today is changing, turning from an open, enabling and profoundly public space into a communications system which can be regulated, controlled, monitored and - where necessary - curtailed.
A regulated internet does not have to be a closed internet, but the trend is clearly towards increased control and the loss of the freedoms which the net has provided thus far. We must understand how this is happening before we can find ways to resist it.
Today's internet has a technical architecture which expresses certain liberal values, largely concerned with fair access to the net's resources, lack of centralised control, support for freedom of speech, openness to innovation, and resistance to monopoly - either cultural, economic or technological.
11:01:20 AM 
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Vista a Threat to Internet Freedom? BBC columnist Bill Thompson warns readers that new DRM technology, especially that found in Vista, is damaging the freedoms that the internet was based on. "The freedom of expression that was once available to users of the Internet Protocol is being stripped away. Our freedom to play, experiment, share and seek inspiration from the creative works of others is increasingly restricted so that large companies can lock our culture down for their own profit. [...] governments and corporations around the world are making a concerted effort to dismantle the open internet and replace it with a regulated and regulable one that will allow them to impose an 'architecture of control.'" [Slashdot: Your Rights Online]
10:57:00 AM
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© Copyright 2007 Paul Hardwick.
Last update: 3/4/07; 9:08:23 AM.
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