[LINK] "We were all wrong." How today's internet is a far cry from the force for good that the "Internet utopians" of the 90s/00s foretold.
Roger Clarke
Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Thu Jan 4 18:58:27 AEDT 2018
At 17:52 +1100 3/1/18, Kim Holburn wrote:
>My Internet Mea Culpa
>https://shift.newco.co/my-internet-mea-culpa-f3ba77ac3eed
>> "We were all wrong." How today's internet is a far cry from the
>>force for good that the "Internet utopians" of the 90s/00s
>>foretold. ...
My first reaction was 'who's Rick Webb?'.
Someone trying to climb on others' coat-tails?
I guess 'reformed angel investor' means something, but 'e-ad man'
says more than enough: http://www.rickwebb.net/
In that case, here was my 1999 opinion of him and his mates:
http://www.rogerclarke.com/EC/WillPay.html#Comm
Kevin Kelly was a wonderfully gifted writer, and an over-enthusiastic twerp.
But which bits was Stewart Brand supposed to apologise for? I didn't
follow the Well in those days. But on the one occasion that I did
some research on his work, it transpired that he got the aphorism
absolutely right. See 'Information wants to be free ...':
http://www.rogerclarke.com/II/IWtbF.html
I checked the dates of my own 'jeremiah' pieces. I was earlier than
most to draw attention to some of these things, but I was far from
unique. The period of my general warnings was 1994-2001, with some
specifics following in 2004-06. So I don't think 'Internet
utopianism' lasted very long.
1994: 'The Internet Age as Threat'
http://www.rogerclarke.com/II/PaperNSCF.html
1995: `Netethiquette: Mini Case Studies of Dysfunctional Human
Behaviour on the Net'
http://www.rogerclarke.com/II/Netethiquettecases.html
1996: 'Virtual Chewing Gum on Virtual Library Seats? Human Behaviour
in Electronic Communities' http://www.rogerclarke.com/II/VALA.html
1996: 'The Information Infrastructure is a Super Eye-Way'
http://www.rogerclarke.com/DV/Monitor.html
1997: 'The Monster from the Crypt: Impacts and Effects of Digital
Money' http://www.rogerclarke.com/EC/Monster.html
1999: 'Freedom of Information? The Internet as Harbinger of the New
Dark Ages' http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue4_11/clarke/
2001: 'While You Were Sleeping ... Surveillance Technologies Arrived'
http://www.rogerclarke.com/DV/AQ2001.html
2001: 'Paradise Gained, Paradise Re-lost: How the Internet is being
Changed from a Means of Liberation to a Tool of Authoritarianism'
http://www.rogerclarke.com/II/PGPR01.html
2004: 'Very Black 'Little Black Books'' (Social Networking Services)
http://www.rogerclarke.com/DV/ContactPITs.html
2006: 'Google Challenges Corporations, Consumers and the Law'
http://www.rogerclarke.com/II/Gurgle0604.html
--
Roger Clarke http://www.rogerclarke.com/
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 6288 6916 http://about.me/roger.clarke
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/
Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University
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