[DMCA-Activists] Oram, 1999: The Ghosts of Internet Time

[Seth Johnson]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Upd-discuss] The Ghosts of Internet Time
Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2005 23:43:12 -0500 (EST)
From: Andy Oram <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden

(This first came out six years ago, but at this season I find it
relevant once again.)

http://www.praxagora.com/andyo/wr/ghost.html

                     The Ghosts of Internet Time

    December 17, 1999

    In the murky light of dawn I was bestirred by a sound I had 
    not heard for a long, long time. Groggily stumbling toward 
    the piercing beep, I exclaimed, "Why, it's the old Unix talk 
    program! That strange little full screen utility--discussed 
    by Douglas Hofstadter in Metamagical Themas--that prefigured 
    chat and instant messaging." In response to the letters 
    flashing on the green monitor, I quickly entered talk ghost 
    and pressed the RETURN key.

    "This is the Ghost of Internet Past," wrote my mysterious 
    correspondent. "NSA, poppy, Castro. I shall show you the 
    Internet in its glorious early days. Tools were clunky back 
    then, but we all studied a bit and learned to understand the 
    medium we were using; and such a wonderful community we built 
    online!"

    I remembered what the ghost was talking about. True, 99% of 
    all newsgroups degenerated into philosophical spats between 
    leftists and libertarians, and three-quarters of all the 
    alerts circulated had been hoaxes, but we still exploited the 
    incredible power of instant worldwide diffusion to carry out 
    some impressive campaigns. Lotus was a pretty big company 
    when an Internet protest made it withdraw its database 
    product on consumer spending.

    "Look, Andy, you were more idealistic then too," admonished 
    the ghost. "It's been years since you contributed to free 
    software projects. Look at the dates on these files." A 
    stream of file names, dates, and sizes dribbled down my 
    scream.

    I squinted at the vaguely familiar output format. "Yeah, 
    those dates are old. Where did you dig up that list?"

    "Archie," typed the ghost.

    "Oh, Ghost," I hammered out. "What has happened to the flame 
    of Internet community? Why do so few of the new users 
    understand it?"

    "What do you expect once ANS took over the backbone?" spat 
    out the ghost. "Canter and Siegel, eye candy, streaming 
    media."

    "But mere commercial usage isn't bad," I replied. "When 
    people trust a medium enough to put the very stuff of which 
    life is made there, it has come of age. Non-profit 
    organizations can be self-seeking information hoarders just 
    as much as for-profit organizations."

    "Damned private-sector hegemonism--"

    "Humbug. I've heard that all before; you're putting me to 
    sleep," I typed, and as if to lend credence to that statement 
    fell into unconsciousness once again.

    Next I was awakened to a furious rush of talk. It was as if 
    someone had started several dozen RealPlayer streams at once. 
    The babble of many contributors crowded out all hope of 
    understanding. "Can anyone make sense of this!" I cried.

    Coming to my rescue, a voice rose above the rest. "Welcome to 
    the debates over Internet policy. As the Ghost of Internet 
    Present, I have to follow them all."

    "What on earth are they talking about?" I demanded.

    "Do you mean: what do they claim to be talking about, or what 
    are they really talking about?"

    "Both, I guess," I answered, non-plussed.

    "Well," explained the ghost, "they think they are talking 
    about which of the old regulatory models to apply to a 
    revolutionary new space."

    "Sounds pretty pointless."

    "And that's why so few bother to listen. But really what 
    they're talking about is bandwidth."

    "Yeah, I heard of that--won't dark fiber solve everything?"

    "That's a 90s panacea," interrupted the ghost scornfully. 
    "The current fad is packet radio. But I was not talking about 
    physical bandwidth at all. I was referring to control. Who 
    has the power to use the Internet? Will it have job postings 
    for the underprivileged or only stock quotes for the 
    affluent? Can communities grow up spontaneously around great 
    works of creative art or must they pay a middleman? Should 
    taxpayer-funded research be sold for hundreds of dollars a 
    document or made freely available to all? Who can be reached 
    simply by requesting a name--big corporations or small 
    voices?"

    "For goodness's sake," I exclaimed, "why don't people talk 
    about the issues that way!"

    "A few try," replied the ghost, "but as soon as you start 
    looking closely at the legal, social, and implementation 
    implications, the answers get so--well, technical."

    I wanted to ask more, but my ghost said, "The present is 
    fleeting. I must depart; the Ghost of Internet Future will be 
    here in my stead."

    Excitement seized me. "Oh Ghost of Internet Future," I cried, 
    "show me what glories the medium has still to offer!"

    Someone grasped my arm and dragged me running through mazes 
    of clattering streets under gray skies, where no creature 
    tread and no breeze stirred. "Where is the Internet Future?" 
    I yelled. "Where did everybody go?"

    "The Internet is gone," said my companion, stooped and hoary.

    "How could that be--what could replace its bounty?"

    "The international financial institutions have a proprietary 
    satellite-based network, imposing and impenetrable. The 
    entertainment companies put out 6500 programs a week, all 
    strictly metered by kilobyte and filtered to isolate 
    controversial content. The electric companies--which always 
    controlled the ultimate pipe, and therefore ended up 
    controlling the medium--run the network that activates 
    devices in the home. Everything the vendors want is built 
    into powerful circuits costing a thousandth of a penny, 
    making software and the culture that accompanied it obsolete. 
    So there are many separate networks, each specialized and 
    tightly controlled."

    "But what about democracy? What about a public space? Is 
    there no forum for the average citizen?"

    The old Ghost's wrinkled face cracked in a sputtering, hollow 
    laugh. "Forum? You want a forum? I'll give you a million of 
    'em. Every time Consolidated Services, Inc. or Skanditek puts 
    up a new item on their media outlets, they leave a space for 
    viewers to post reactions. And they post, and post, and post. 
    Nobody can track the debates..."

    "They forgot," I sighed. "People forgot that the Internet 
    enables discussion and community; they acquiesced to an 
    overly pragmatic and impersonal approach that fragmented 
    protocols and media in such a way as to remove the human 
    element. What can I do to prevent this, Ghost? Tell me what 
    to do when I return to my present life!"

    But mists swept over the scene and the hand of the Ghost of 
    the Internet Future slipped invisibly from mine. "I am 
    fading," it whispered. "The Internet is gone..."

    And so I awoke, but I lay with eyes closed and addressed my 
    three Ghosts in my thoughts: "I promise I will learn the 
    lessons you taught tonight!

    "Ghost of Internet Past, I promise I will learn about the 
    technologies that affect my life so that I can control them.

    "Ghost of Internet Present, I will talk to ordinary people 
    about the everyday issues that are affected by Internet 
    politics. And I'll use it to fight real problems: racism, the 
    income gap, war, ecological devastation.

    "Finally, Ghost of Internet Future, I will always insist that 
    the Internet is more than a means of transmitting data--it is 
    a place for building community."

    And the day was still just dawning.

    _____________________________________________________________

    Andy Oram is an editor at O'Reilly Media and a member of 
    Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. This 
    article represents his views only. It was originally 
    published in the online magazine Web Review.
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