[Colchester] Net Neutrality - It's the end of the world as we know it

[Wayland Sothcott]

Toby had a stab at responding to my post but mostly I think people are 
still trying to digest what I said.

Most people who use the Internet don't know what it is. They say things 
like my email is working but the Internet is broken.

Back in 1989 I was a Compuserve user. You dialed in using their dialer 
and your modem. It was just a fancy BBS (Bulitin Board System), but 
because it was so big lots of people could be on at the same meaning you 
could chat live. There were download and upload areas, you had email, 
there were online games. My bother said I should get on the Internet and 
use the World Wide Web, he showed me Demon and Trumpet Winsock (a sort 
of dialer for the Internet). I learned that my Compuserve could do 
Internet too. He showed me Use Groups and Internet email and Mozaic web 
browser and web pages. These things were a bit tame compared to 
Compuserve with it's graphical interface and lively groups and chat etc. 
I sort of could not see the point, but I persisted and discovered what 
my compuserve email address looked like in Internet format something 
like 72136.35 at comuserve.com which looked very weird to me.

The essential difference between Compuserve and The Internet is like the 
difference between walking round  Blue Water shopping centre and 
traveling round THE WHOLE WORLD!

It must have taken me 18 months to figure this out.

Most people who don't know the difference between the Internet and the 
Web probably think that Microsoft provide the Internet.

On the roads in the UK you can drive anywhere. There are a couple of 
toll roads, charged areas, parking charges and toll bridges but ignoring 
them you have the freedom to go anywhere, yes it costs you in fuel, but 
you could cycle. With the Internet your packets can go ANYWHERE in the 
world with no extra charge.

The very real danger is that the Internet will be turned into a massive 
version of Compuserve. There will still be lots of choice of what major 
chain stores you can visit. Many of these companies will allow you some 
webspace and chat and blogs. However it will all be moderated by your 
ISP. You won't be able to run your own server. This is beginning to be 
the case with email. I used to have my own SMTP server, but now I have 
to use my ISP's SMTP since many recipient ISPs block my SMTP IP because 
of spam worries.

As smart Internet users you would notice if the Internet turned into 
Compuserve, however my mother in law who thinks Internet = Web would not 
notice. The percentage of people who would notice this happening is 
probably similar to the percentage of people using Linux on their 
desktop PC. Even when addressing Linux people, I worry you don't grok 
this. People enjoy the benefits of the Internet without knowing what it 
is, just as people successfully use the road network without being a car 
mechanic or road planner. The Internet is about to be hijacked by big 
business right down to it's core structure.


> Let me know what you think.
>
> Wayland.
>
>
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