I don't do this often, but this says what I have wanted to say about social implications of the internet, except it goes further, does it more eloquently and generally gives some really interesting food for thought.
Are we really better off with them than with our current "RL" governments?
A very interesting question. Currently, whenever these sorts companies have overstepped their marks they've (mostly) been lambasted back into line. Social pressure in the form of commerce and enterprise generally seem to be good at regulating them.
I'm not naive enough to think that will always be the case, but one other good thing is that no one "RL" government can control all aspects of the internet, no matter how hard it tries. This will eventually force (if the internet-running companies prove not to be good enough at self-regulation) some sort of joint committee of countries (NATO anyone?) to regulate the companies. This will undoubtedly be slow and bloated with politics and bureaucracy.
So where does that leave us? Well I suspect the internet will manage itself quite effectively - take the smaller case of CDDB which when it tried to start getting people to pay for the information they had collected for free it backfired and people rebelled and set up freedb in its place. This can and will happen again to any internet-based organisation that gets too big for its boots. It might be more tricky for some parts, but PayPal and the like can and will crumble if people decide to use viable alternatives. Patents are too slow to keep up with the internet world, and by the time a successful patent holder has sued the original application is no longer in place.
I do believe the whole way we do business is going to receive a large shake-up as more and more business is conducted online. Business models will need to change - for example companies will find it difficult to charge for proprietary technology that doesn't cover a niche market; instead I believe the emerging strategy of quality open-source products being adopted for free with varying levels of support being paid for by contract.
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Date: 2004-11-11 01:19 pm (UTC)A very interesting question. Currently, whenever these sorts companies have overstepped their marks they've (mostly) been lambasted back into line. Social pressure in the form of commerce and enterprise generally seem to be good at regulating them.
I'm not naive enough to think that will always be the case, but one other good thing is that no one "RL" government can control all aspects of the internet, no matter how hard it tries. This will eventually force (if the internet-running companies prove not to be good enough at self-regulation) some sort of joint committee of countries (NATO anyone?) to regulate the companies. This will undoubtedly be slow and bloated with politics and bureaucracy.
So where does that leave us? Well I suspect the internet will manage itself quite effectively - take the smaller case of CDDB which when it tried to start getting people to pay for the information they had collected for free it backfired and people rebelled and set up freedb in its place. This can and will happen again to any internet-based organisation that gets too big for its boots. It might be more tricky for some parts, but PayPal and the like can and will crumble if people decide to use viable alternatives. Patents are too slow to keep up with the internet world, and by the time a successful patent holder has sued the original application is no longer in place.
I do believe the whole way we do business is going to receive a large shake-up as more and more business is conducted online. Business models will need to change - for example companies will find it difficult to charge for proprietary technology that doesn't cover a niche market; instead I believe the emerging strategy of quality open-source products being adopted for free with varying levels of support being paid for by contract.