Subject:
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Re: Why the Net doesn't belong to America
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sat, 25 Mar 2000 18:56:40 GMT
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Rob Doucette writes:
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20000325/tc/20000326149.html
>
> Anyone care to comment on this?
Sure. Executive summary: The author's all wet. Ignore him.
More:
Libertarian viewpoint (and the author clearly is trying to use Libertarian as a
denigrating comment, too bad for him he doesn't get it) or not, the net as a
whole doesn't "belong" to anyone. Individual components do but not the net as a
whole. it is a thing that exists only because of the sum of its parts and a
thing that transcends those parts.
What I think is great about the net is exactly the thing that this author is
railing about. Freedom from silly regulations.
Caveat Emptor, of course. Personally I won't buy from sites I don't trust, and
neither should you. I choose US sites when I can because the rule of law is
stronger here. But not always. If I trust a merchant (c.f. DYA) I have no
qualms about using a foreign site.
But I think that it's GREAT that when OZ tried to do something stupid to
regulate content, it was sidestepped, and when the US tried to do something
stupid to prevent privacy (regulating encryption) it was sidestepped.
The net is accelerating the leveling of the world. Any sort of anti market
foolishness will be circumvented, sooner or later, ask Smoot and Hawley. But
the net is hastening this. Any country that thinks it can hide behind borders,
denying its citizens the level playing field of the world, is all wet. It's no
longer machinery that is the wealth of a nation, it's ideas. And ideas can't be
stopped by borders. People will vote with their feet.
That seems to frighten this author. It exhilarates me. But then, I make my
living in this space, and, unlike the author, who makes a living here too, but
does so by scaring people, I benefit from people realising that they're free.
That's a good thing.
++Lar
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