I've railed against the proposed changes in regulations of media ownership before the FCC (voting in a few weeks). I've tried to argue that media consolidation is inherently bad, since it means that more and more of what we see, read, and hear are controlled by smaller and smaller numbers of people.
But there is another incredibly important implication of increased control by cable companies. Cable internet is the most popular way to get high-speed internet (DSL, satellite, and fiberoptic are the the others). If a cable company is able to consolidate ownership, they essentially consolidate ownership of the pipes for connecting to the internet.
And if this happens, there is nothing stopping them from interfering with your access to the internet. The internet as we know it depends on private hardware, neutral software, and specialized content, but the key element was that anyone could use it and no one could control it. But once someone, say, a cable company, has a monopoly on access, they can control your use of it. They can filter sites, and indeed have already begun limiting costumer's ability to use the outgoing pipe freely. 200K down and 15K out? Hello!
The Internet as a network will likely always be around, but the freedom of the internet is withering and dying. Soon the internet will be controlled by media companies. This is not Chicken Little talking, this is an entirely plausible and highly likely development. Once the Microsoft-led consortium for so-called "trustworthy computing" get their hardware controlled systems on the market, you will no longer have the ability to access information the way you would like to.
They will control the hardware in your house, the pipes, and the content. Enjoy.
Posted by Nutrimentia at May 19, 2003 10:17 AM | TrackBack