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Isn't the internet only (somewhat) open/free/decentralized because of the politics of the people that built it?
by sincerely 8y ago
Isn't the internet only (somewhat) open/free/decentralized because of the politics of the people that built it?
- darawk 8y agoSorry, i'm not sure if i'm understanding correctly. I have two equiprobable interpretations of your question: 1. The internet is not completely decentralized due to the politics of its engineers. 2. The internet being designed to be open and free was, as much as any other architecture, reflective of the politics of its framers. I suppose they are essentially the same question, though. You're right, the architecture of the internet does reflect the politics of its engineers, to a degree. But I think it mostly represents an attempt at the most flexible, simple architecture to provide infrastructure for other applications without being opinionated about those applications. Which, on the one hand, is sort of a political choice, though I feel it's only political in the sense that it avoids any and all political considerations. Its politics are neutrality and agnosticism.
- paulddraper 8y agoNot directly. You can call "open internet" politics, sure. But this is different than the existing politics of taxes, gun rights, abortion rights, property rights, race relations, immigration, transportation, homosexuality, tariffs, or federalization. You might claim it reflected free speech, i.e. the inability of government to restrict the content of written or spoken messages. But I think that would be a weak argument at best, especially for the pre-https web.