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Towards the conclusion of Rosenweigz’s essay “Wizards, Bureaucrats, Warriors, and Hackers”, he mentions the transition of the internet’s “technolibertaranism” to an oligarchical structure headed by dominating ISPs. From the pressing issue of net neutrality and personal privacy to the bombardment of targeted online advertisements, the modern internet is not far off from its original intent of collectivizing information.
While online advertisements are not inherently bad, with many websites rely on ad revenue to survive, the buying and selling of consumer information breaches privacy boundaries. In 2017, the sharing on consumer info crosses various medias from our social media, our news, to our entertainment. I once looked up a jacket on Google, the same jacket was later see on an ad as I browsed a hip-hop forum and again when I was on Instagram. These advertisements become not only an increasing nuisance, but a danger as it exposes the weaknesses of our only identity being sold and bought by other websites.
The treatment of consumer info as a commodity was made even easier by Congress’s “wiping of landmark FCC privacy protection”.
The Senate has voted to nullify those measures, which were set to take effect at the end of this year. If Trump signs the legislation as expected, providers will be able to monitor their customers’ behavior online and, without their permission, use their personal and financial information to sell highly targeted ads — making them rivals to Google and Facebook in the $83 billion online advertising market.
With an increasingly worsening situation for the average internet user, the future lies within the hands of the bureaucracy.
Posted from our fascination by Tony N.