Rheingold notes, 20 Oct 2010

From Driscollwiki

Phone call w Howard Rheingold

• October 20, 2010

• Recovering the inclusivity of the term "the Net"
• Subtle transitions, behind-the-scenes
  • From BBS sysop to ISP admin
• Why does this matter?
  • Net neutrality, transition to broadband being a transition away from independent, locally-owned/-operated to transnational, vertically-integrated corporations with little incentive to innovate
  • All the slow, conservatism of Ma Bell with none of the government regulation or "public good"

"September that never ended"

• AOL as the September that never ended

Real-time and always on availability

Declining civility online

HR wrote a column about the line crossing of early spammers on USENET

• Freeriders
• But people to run

Credulity

• Fake-out ability

Monopoly story

Tomorrow Columns by H Rheingold

• ~1995, concern over porn on the net
• 1996 Telecomm Act, gave big actors license to expand infrastructure
  • Broaden competition, pricing should drop, etc.
  • Why didn't this happen?

What about the fiber?

• What about infrastructure paid for stockholders of companies that don't exist anymore?
• Discussed in The World is Flat, "dark fiber"
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_fibre

WISPs on Indian reservations

• There was someone who was evangelistic about starting them

People to check in with

• Tim Pozar on muni wifi
  • Lives in the Valley
  • http://www.lns.com/house/aboutpozar.html
• Brad Templeton at EFF also worked in this area
  • http://www.templetons.com/brad/
• Chuq von Rospach
  • @chuq
  • http://www.chuqui.com/about/

Transitions cultural

• People felt like that had a "running start"
• Nobody anticipated search

Emphemerality, ethics

• People didn't anticipate archiving
• Axelrod, "shadow of the future", Cooperation
• "Norms of the future reaching back into the past"