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stonetools · 03-03-2012, 01:31 PM

I was told to read the article referenced in the OP, so I did. What's interesting is not the points the self-proclaimed "spokesperson" made , but his philosophy. Apparently he is speaking for some folks called the "technologists". The "technologists" believe that you should be able to do anything you want on your computing devices and on the Internet. Anything that interferes with that freedom (anti-piracy legislation, DRM, proprietary formats) are all to be reviled and resisted.
The problem with this romantic vision is that its outdated . It may have made sense during the formative years of the Internet. However in the last 15 years, the internet has become part of the public square-the place where the public comes to meet, to politic, and above all do business. Its is therefore inevitable that the Internet will be brought under the rule of law-the public will demand it and government will respond to public pressure . Everything the writer objects to are attempts by business and/or the government to bring the rule of law to the Internet. Unfortunately for the author, such attempts will continue , because the Internet is just too important to be left to the technologists.
A historical analogy is the Atlantic. Once the Atlantic was an open sea, in which every captain of a ship did what was right in his eyes, and piracy flourished. Once the Atlantic sea routes became central to international commerce, the world's navies hunted down the pirates and established the rule of law across the Atlantic. I expect the same will happen as the Internet becomes more and more important to world commerce.

03-03-2012, 01:31 PM	#45
stonetools Wizard Posts: 2,016 Karma: 2838487 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Washington, DC Device: Ipad, IPhone	I was told to read the article referenced in the OP, so I did. What's interesting is not the points the self-proclaimed "spokesperson" made , but his philosophy. Apparently he is speaking for some folks called the "technologists". The "technologists" believe that you should be able to do anything you want on your computing devices and on the Internet. Anything that interferes with that freedom (anti-piracy legislation, DRM, proprietary formats) are all to be reviled and resisted. The problem with this romantic vision is that its outdated . It may have made sense during the formative years of the Internet. However in the last 15 years, the internet has become part of the public square-the place where the public comes to meet, to politic, and above all do business. Its is therefore inevitable that the Internet will be brought under the rule of law-the public will demand it and government will respond to public pressure . Everything the writer objects to are attempts by business and/or the government to bring the rule of law to the Internet. Unfortunately for the author, such attempts will continue , because the Internet is just too important to be left to the technologists. A historical analogy is the Atlantic. Once the Atlantic was an open sea, in which every captain of a ship did what was right in his eyes, and piracy flourished. Once the Atlantic sea routes became central to international commerce, the world's navies hunted down the pirates and established the rule of law across the Atlantic. I expect the same will happen as the Internet becomes more and more important to world commerce.