Internet: A Medium or a Message? The State of the Net: An Interim Report about the Future of the Internet

Internet: A Medium or a Message? The State of the Net: An Interim Report about the Future of the Internet Who are the participants who constitute the Internet? Users - connected to the net and interacting with it The communications lines and the communications equipment The intermediaries (e.g. the suppliers of on-line information or access providers). Hardware manufacturers Software authors and manufacturers (browsers, site development tools, specific applications, smart agents, search engines and others). …

…sector will have to pay to fend off the eager legislator and his nuisance value. All this is bound to lead to a monopolization of hosts and servers. The important broadcast channels will diminish in number and be subjected to severe content restrictions. Sites which will not succumb to these requirements - will be deleted or neutralized. Content guidelines (euphemism for censorship) exist, even as we write, in all major content providers (CompuServe, AOL, Prodigy).