to figure out a way to de-fang, or short-circuit the Intertubes.
They have money and time and motivation. Motivation comes from the fact that they've spent the past 80 years, and countless trillions of dollars to corner the market in ideas, and they're not gonna let some electronic johnnie-come-lately horn in without they've got sumpin to say about it.
I do not doubt for a single moment that they will succeed.
They'll do it the way the fascists do everything in this country: a cocktail of bribery and intimidation.
The bribery will come in the form of tangible trade-offs--lower prices if you let us track ALL your virtual travels, i.e., they way they do at supermarkets--which most citizens will accept because they have no interest in nor knowledge of the empowerment the Web represents.
The intimidation will come in the form of 'official' regulation on the content, probably by forcing ISPs to impose 'libel' bonds on anyone who uses their service to post personal opinions about matters of public importance naming any names.
The Web as we know it will not survive the 2012 election cycle, especially if it seems/appears to be as influential as it seemed to be in '06. There is NO FUCKING WAY the bosses are--even CAN--let that stand unmolested.
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