Future of Internet

[drisley]

i guess I'll start this forum up...

There will be a meeting at the World Economic Forum to discuss the future of the internet, how best to handle and control it and make it work toward globalization.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1142000/1142079.stm

Whatcha think? How long do you think the net will last as it is now? My personal opinion is that a trend toward globalization would require control over the internet, as it is a fast-spreading method of free thought.

[jessho]

I read that Bill Gates will speak at the meeting. I am interested to see what is said.

[StuartW]

The internet in its present form cannot last much longer.Governments are starting to realise that being unregulated, it could pose a threat. The trend has started with France and Yahoo, although this piece of farce is unworkable since French citizens can access Nazi sites via other search engines.
Any attempt to regulate or tax the web, will just drive the extreme elements underground; also there will always be governments who being anti-west, would take great delight in setting up an unregulated web.
It has developed too far to be stopped completely, but that will not prevent Western Governments from trying to regulate it.As jessho says, it will be interesting to see what Bill Gates says, since at the end of the day he is a position to have his own way.

[StuartW]

Just found this site
http://www.hellomrpresident.com
They claim they can laser project on to nearby mountains your message to the conference. I bet the messages are edited.

[troysvihl]

yeah, unfortunetly the wonderfully anarchiastic (is that a word?) features of the web are attempted to be stamped out. I think it will be like any other element in life: If you want to avoid governmental regulation, you can, but it will take some intelligence. If you structure your life in the correct way, you can get around almost any governmental regulation or rule. I think this will be true of any attempted regulaion on the net.