Is the web getting *gasp* smaller? ten years ago, if I'd asked that question to myself, I would have laughed. The interwebz made the world a smaller place, via information sharing like never before. but today, in this article, the argument is that the web is in danger of being partitioned off to a dangerous extent. Social networking, apps, governments and businesses are keeping us within our little parameters, with much information outside those walls never to be seen, the article claims. Things like net neutrality, wireless carriers wanting to prioritize traffic, and "other 'walled garden' threats" are infringing on the internet. The beneficiaries of this would be bigger conglomo-mega-corporations, with innovation and entrepreneurship being on the losing end.
Think about it, in terms of net neutrality: if internet provider Schmoeweb says to Netflix "Pay me for bandwidth your users suck down" and Netflix says "No," then who loses? The user, who has paid for their Netflix subscription and their Schmoeweb bill, but doesn't receive the quality product. The information is out there, but they are being prevented from getting to it.
Or think in terms of a Mom-n-Pop shop. They improve the mousetrap, and are poised to sell millions, but cant make the payment it will take to get their website out of the internet ghetto that they are relegated to. Innovation is slowed or killed because people won't know what is outside of their garden wall.
The FCC is getting ready to vote on net neutrality, and as web users, developers, businesspeople, we need to pay attention to this. It could effect how exactly we carry out our business on the interwebz from now on.
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