> if you prefer random access media) you'll definitely find it in the > telecommunist manifesto.
There's an insight in the manifesto which is about a very early, long before "Web 2.0", decision that had profound effects. I plan to write about this at greater length, but it has to do with the choice to build asymmetry into the infrastructure at a low level in the access networks. Once this happened it raised the barrier for transmission of information just high enough that for most people it was difficult or impossible to run certain types of software. This gave a structure to the net that separated the producers from the consumers. From there it made perfect sense for wealth to concentrate in the way that was articulated by Tim O'Reilly -- he coined the term but he was really just describing what was happening. We're also seeing some of the fall-out from this in the net neutrality conflicts that are currently playing out. The reasons for this are partly technical, partly economic and partly political and it's difficult to know cause and effect with certainty. It is clear that the beneficiaries have been the financiers of centralised "Web 2.0" services, and those interested in surveillance (not mutually exclusive by any stretch). -w
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