[okfn-discuss] Web 2.0 Killed the Internet (article)

[William Waites]

> if you prefer random access media) you'll definitely find it in the
> telecommunist manifesto.

There's an insight in the manifesto which is about a very early, long
before "Web 2.0", decision that had profound effects. I plan to write
about this at greater length, but it has to do with the choice to build
asymmetry into the infrastructure at a low level in the access
networks. Once this happened it raised the barrier for transmission of
information just high enough that for most people it was difficult or
impossible to run certain types of software. This gave a structure to
the net that separated the producers from the consumers. From there it
made perfect sense for wealth to concentrate in the way that was
articulated by Tim O'Reilly -- he coined the term but he was really
just describing what was happening. We're also seeing some of the
fall-out from this in the net neutrality conflicts that are currently
playing out. The reasons for this are partly technical, partly economic
and partly political and it's difficult to know cause and effect with
certainty. It is clear that the beneficiaries have been the financiers
of centralised "Web 2.0" services, and those interested in surveillance
(not mutually exclusive by any stretch).

-w
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