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  • From: Thomas Beckett <thomas AT tbeckett.com>
  • To: InterNetWorkers <internetworkers AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: fencing the commons
  • Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 10:46:12 -0400


There's a timely article on Salon today about the technology/marketing
landgrab war brewing between Microsoft and AOL. The author touches on a
lot of subjects, including the "smart tag" controversy that we have just
been raising dust over ourselves.

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/06/26/locking_up_the_web/index.html

"As long as AOL's and Microsoft's struggle is fought primarily in that
final realm [over profits], the fight won't be one that most Net users
will care about; one mega-corporation's money grab looks pretty much
like another's. Things will get far more interesting, however, if the
conflict spills over into the other two categories. The Smart Tag
controversy is a glimpse of what corporate speech control on the Net
looks like -- that's why it has so much of the active Net up in arms.
Meanwhile, the more AOL and Microsoft "leverage" their advantages in,
respectively, subscribership and software, the more likely they are to
start closing off entrances and exits and transforming their fiefdoms
into private networks. In the world of instant messaging, each company's
users are unable to connect with the other's -- a preview of what
corporate control of access on the Net looks like. Think of how it would
feel if e-mail worked that way!"



  • fencing the commons, Thomas Beckett, 06/26/2001

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