So, we all had some time off and what happens? It seems all that glühwein and family time put some sense into the conversation about the online society. One example, obviously, is whistle-blower-come-superstar Edward Snowden who gave the UK Channel Four “Alternative Christmas Speech” describing a bleak future where no child will know what it means having a private and unrecorded moment. Maybe it was the slow news season, but his words was repeated by news media across the Western Hemisphere and whoever was still in their Kantian dogmatic slumber surely woke-up and smelled the belated coffee (or was that glühwein?).
Netopia has always followed and admired American musician David Lowery’s Trichordist blog for its no-nonsense approach to the battles of music online. In this holiday season, it seems mr Lowery enjoyed generous cups of the Netopia eggnog as he expanded his scope to the online society in a greater sense. Do these words not sound like something straight out of the Netopia manifesto?
It’s time that the average Internet user understands that the web is something we collectively created. And when it doesn’t work the way we want it to? We can change it. We can make it better. We can upgrade it. The web doesn’t belong to these multibillion dollar internet behemoths. It belongs to all of us. And these companies need to play by the same set of rules that the rest of us play by.
No, Netopia does not believe David Lowery gets his views from this humble blog, it’s just a happy coincidence. Nevertheless promising for the new year. I hope you, dear Netopia-reader, will be joining us for the ride!
