I personally do not belive we are in any form of Digital Age. The Internet is a tool yes, but it's far from perfect and many have seen to it that it is abused to the maximum extent possible by viruses, unwanted communications messages, attacks, flames, personal attacks and more. And not all the weaknesses are created by individuals, companies take thier share as well.

The Internet has challenged our society where it hurts the most. Children today grow up in the Internet world, and many have no clear understanding of copyright law due to the ease that people could obtain songs. Copyright seems a dull and non-existant law when compared with the pure availability of songs online with no apparent law enforcement. A child will grow up believing he/she has a social right to get files online, and have no concious about it. It's a new mark in society.

The Internet has challenged business, religion, personal lives and more. Clearly, the Internet is not some new technology that would save us or propell us into this digital age we want, because it's not ready for prime-time. So, don't forget to save those e-mails because the Internet's Beta testing is about to run out. Why?

It's merely a catalyst. When changes in society happen, it is never attributed to one singular event, but rather a catalyst that set the stage. When World War 1 started, just because a member of royalty was assasinated didn't make all the world rulers chime in "let's get him!". It had a domino effect, a catalyst for other things to come as thousands of humans reacted to reality as it changed. The same with today. The Internet has challenged us, and especially to the RIAA/MPAA it seems that they are feeling desperate, since it will hurt them the most.

So, like all catalysts, what will we see? The forecast is for brawls, open attacks and all manner of chaos. The spreading of viruses and Spam are increasing despite the work to halt them and the world is constantly under attack in one form or another online, with users always hiding thier identity.

What is the solution to this? It's a solution that no-one will accept, that everyone will hate but everyone will be forced to admit that works.

The creation of the Global Communications Accord ties the power of industry, user and goverment into one entity responsible for Global Communications. No longer will crimes commited in one country online have a different punishment. A Global law will apply to all Cyber Communications, meaning there is no more safe haven for users who wish to rebel against security. The INC (International Network Committee) will have direct controll on all users who access the internet, they will deduct a fee of 1 dollar per access point, and have in thier headquarters FBI and Criminal experts who will work 24x7 to manage the security of world networks. No longer will companies or servers be a mess, since it will be a requirement for a new standard in automated updates, controlled not by company, but by INC standards and directly supervised by the INC. No longer will companies be allowed to dictate the format or content of the internet, the INC will hold final say over formats and use. No longer will personal webservers be allowed to offer material that is offensive. Certian forms of content will require the purchase of a license and payment of a fee, with full picture ID and contact information.

The board of the INC is created by members of goverment of the countries who participate in it, the members of industry in all members countries and individuals who seek to represent the common home base. Anyone can be an official INC Voter, with the power to cast a vote on any public debates and isues including the election of board members. (Voters must be of legal age and have a internet access powered by an INC compliant company)

What would you think if you lived under this?

I think we're in a *form* of a digital age, we're partway there, but there is still alot we can do in order to get closer to having a truly digital lifestyle.

I believe that today, an almost complete digital lifestyle IS possible though... There would still be paper, we would still use fossil fuels, and no, computers will not have 5" by 5" sections of chloroplasts on them, although we all know that that would be really cool.

The digital age is less here than we would hope because it takes a long time for everyone to adapt to new ways of doing things. The real digital age would appear until we throw out the old solutions and technologically patched versions of old solutions. For example, it took factories 30 years to restructure for making the best use of electricity because the best way to use electricity in a factory meant building a new factory on entirely different design principles. Old factories were tall and dense to connect to mechanical power sources, new electrically-powered factories could be spread out for efficient flow of work. I am sure the best way to have a digital company or a digital society will look much different from the current semi-digital precursors.

The real issue is that every new technology has had its utopian visions, harsh realities, and unexpected benefits. Whether its railroads, electricity, airplanes, automobiles, skyscrapers, etc., every new invention creates new jobs and destroys old ones. New companies rise, some become too powerful, others go bankrupt. Towns flourish or die based on how they connect to each new technology.

I doubt that anything like the Global Communications Accord will occur. Internet crime is not very high on people's lists of concerns. As much as RIAA/MPAA storm and bluster, it does not make front page headlines the way Iraq, the Middleeast, hurricane Isabel, or the latest greatest sports results do. The whole file sharing (sharing being a euphemism for stealing) issue will eventually sort itself out. Spam will continue to be a nuisance -- its too hard to regulate all commerical speech and spam is really only a minor pain, not a physical threat. Pr0n will continue to be available -- if they can't prevent the publication of hardcopy smut, what makes anyone thing they can regulate the virtual version.

If you want an interesting parallel to the current file sharing fiasco, look at the fight that erupted over record players and radios in the 30s and 40s. Live band musicians saw record players and radios as a massive technological threat because many places were replacing live bands with recorded or broadcast music. The musicians union went on strike and eventually forced a settlement in which every record sold had to pay into a fund for these obsolete, out-of-work musicians. Perhaps a "tax" on all DVD and CD media is in the offing. Perhaps DRM will make it much harder to let others copy files that they have no right to copy.

Bottomline is that file sharing is not going to cause any brawls, wars, or chaos because most people and most governments really don't care that much about it. In the mean time more elements of life will have more digital pieces, a fact that will be a boon to some and a nightmare to others.

G4From128k

68k Macintosh Liberation Army Forums

© 2001-2003 68kMLA