What Happens When The Internet Is Trusted?

from the do-we-want-this? dept

Someone who prefers to remain anonymous wrote in with a link to a Newsweek story painting a scary portrait of the future internet that some big companies envision. Under the name (popularized, of course, by Microsoft) "trusted computing", they're trying to clean up the internet. However, just like pioneering places in the real world, "cleaning up" often means "locking down", which can take away the rights and freedoms of individuals mainly because a small number of them abused those rights and freedoms. At the same time, however, the article suggests that in such a cleaning up, we're simply making the internet safe for big companies. The big question, then, is there a way to deal with the bad seeds in an online world where anything goes that doesn't require restricting our freedoms and openness? Or are the two things mutually exclusive? I'd like to believe that it's possible to preserve the rights and freedoms, but it will take more work - because it involves focusing on stopping the abusers, instead of just blocking everyone.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    PhilTR, 17 Dec 2003 @ 9:02am

    Unimagined skill sets

    A wild n wooly internet will aide in the development of yet unimagined skills and knowledge. A locked down internet will guide/limit development of skills and knowledge needed to function in it. Further, a locked down internet will aide in control of knowledge development and distribution. Who do you think will be able to exert the greatest control? Something to think about.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Robert Ray Hedges, 30 Mar 2004 @ 2:47pm

    Taking over the Internet on schedule

    Mortality Resolution International
    Stealth Psy
    Virtuebios
    Coordinated Immortalising Intention Interneted Internationally

    The Children's immortalisation Network Phenomenon

    http://i.stop.death.tripod.com/mysites.hrml

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.