3 ms·
I read the manifesto and found it hard to get past the obvious distortions about the role of government in technology. For starters, not even acknowledging that
by ojbyrne 14y ago
I read the manifesto and found it hard to get past the obvious distortions about the role of government in technology. For starters, not even acknowledging that that wondrous thing called the internet was originally funded by the government.
- baddox 14y agoI don't think the Pauls would intentionally deny or conceal that government funds were used to create the beginnings of the Internet. Just like NASA, I suspect they would take their usual stance: that even when governments use tax revenue to do worthwhile things, it would be preferable (certainly morally and perhaps economically) for private enterprise to accomplish the same things.
- prodigal_erik 14y agoWe've already seen private enterprise solutions to the long-haul network problem: CompuServe and AOL, each of which was a heavily-censored and ludicrously expensive walled garden, soundly rejected by anyone with access to the Internet. Well-run private enterprises avoid creating public goods because they don't pay off, so they aren't going to happen unless you solve the free rider problem (i.e., taxation) or you have so many selfless donors who don't object to free riders that you can ignore the problem.