These two articles do a really good job of contextualizing the internet from a global viewpoint and as an ever changing entity. Too many people take the internet for granted — see it as something completely free and something which will exist forever, but these articles do a good job of showing the contrary. Despite the ethereal nature of the internet, the internet is very much a man-made object. If we are not careful, we could lose the whole internet to the clutches of the greedy internet service providers of the world.
Another thing that this article made me think more about is the issue of the firewall in China. While the internet is completely unrestricted in most parts of the world, the People’s Republic of China censors major parts of the internet. It is one of the most difficult things about living in China and it is honestly the bane of my existence. Another very interesting thing is the effect that the firewall has had on the Chinese people. Through having a conversation with the average Chinese person, it is very evident that the firewall has restricted their knowledge to only things that the Chinese government wants them to know and that is a direct contradiction to the very principles on which the internet was founded. As the government makes the firewall larger and stronger, one can watch the freedom of the internet dwindle away before their very eyes and that’s a very, very scary thing.