Zittrain’s The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It

Control. Management. Surveillance.

The average internet user probably rarly thinks of these memes when they’re surfing their favorite webpages, tweeting, and shopping on etsy.com (oh wait that’s what I was doing earlier and I did think of those terms...hmm).

Zittrain was a really interesting read. He took the topic of internet beyond what I ever really considered even since getting in this class I hadn’t pushed my thought process quite where he went. The basic history is that PCs were once more creatively constructed so that the user could contribute to the experience, not just be subject to it. Yet since it’s public arrival, the internet and technology itself has become dependent on the manufacturer's specifications. For example, the iPhone isn’t an interface that a user can change or modify to their needs. It’s required to be on the AT&T network (my main pet peeve against it), there are a set number of applications that do only certain functions, etc. etc. It is “locked down” so to speak. This locked-down technology leaves a lot of room for the user’s activity to be controlled and monitored.

Part One basically sums up Zittrain’s arguments on how the Net was formed on a principle of generativity which has since gone to the way-side with new non-generative technologies that strive on control and surveillance. His main arguments for a better future, are that information technology works best when it is generative. He believes Wikipedia to be a generative enterprise and a successful example of how flexibility in content creation can work.

The big question I had though was the “how to stop it” part of the book title. I guess I just didn’t quite understand how anything would be stopped, and maybe this is me being nit picky about terms. I think what he’s talking about is actually how to change it, or redirect it, something like that. This book seems to be a call to action, more so than I think any of our other reads this semester. It’s not just a manifesto but I feel Zittrain is trying to really get at something. So that probably affects the language use, using more action terms and such. I guess what I had a hard time understanding, was how do we keep generative technologies from becoming non-generative. Maybe this is a pitfall of the human condition. The internet in it’s infancy was open and innovative and now it has fallen prey to security issues, abuse, and harmful acts. Isn't that so human of us to ruin things? We've done this through out history, no?

And also I don’t see all recent technology as being as non-generative and harmful as Zittrain does. Take TiVo for instance, which I find to be more against the control of the system than any other TV technology. Sure there is still limitation to it, but it allows the user to be free of the schedules of broadcast television. There is not the need to sit and watch a show at the required time of 8/7c every a wednesday night. And being able to skip the commercials means that you are not subject to the advertiser’s suggestions of what to wear, who to be, where to shop and eat. Sure, you get that kind of socialization through TV shows just as often as the commercials, but there is something about commercials I just find obnoxious for the most part.

In the end I do see the potential and real existence of maintenance and control in all the technologies we use. Even in something like Wikipedia though it has it’s own type of control. Anyone can change what you post. Who’s to say that anyone should be able to do that? Just like who’s to say that only AT&T can provide you with phone service on your iPhone? In both situations an other has a contribution in your actions and your life. You are not a completely free agent in this world.