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#worldwideweb #internet
00:00 Intro 00:38 Sponsor: Learn about the CARTA security model for free 01:25 Big Tech Centralization 05:05 Internet Filtering 08:31 Internet Blackouts 09:44 Alternative Internets 11:22 Signs of healing 13:39 Sponsor: Get a device that runs Linux perfectly 14:32 Support the channel
The first big thing that's killing the open internet is centralization by big companies. Big tech companies like Apple, Google, or Microsoft are making all efforts to ensure that their users stick to their online services and products, and this ends up dictating what parts of the internet you end up accessing or not.
Using a specific web browser means you're using a specific engine, which dictates what you can or can't do online. It's also the search engines from these companies that will dictate which websites surface, and which don't. The algorithms from the platforms you use, like youtube for video, Facebook, or Twitter will define what content you see, and what content you don't.
And then you have the lack of interoperability between services. But this stuff, you can still bypass yourself. More concerning is what countries do to limit what you can and can't access.
https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/internet-censorship-map/
Countries implement various filters that are basically censorship. Some of it is acceptable, like blocking illegal material, and some of it is more questionable, like blocking websites that reference various copyrighted materials.
All these filters make the internet less open: you can't freely access what you're looking for if your country decides it's not allowed.
When filters aren't enough, countries now implement full internet blackouts, generally to deal with protests against the government's actions. In 2020, 268 million people had their internet access shut down, that's 49% more than in 2019.
While these blackouts are selective, and can still let governments access the internet themselves while the general public can't, they're devastating for a country's economy and business, and they can't be maintained for very long periods of time.
https://news.yahoo.com/268-million-people-had-internet-122208785.html
https://www.wired.com/story/iran-internet-blackout-economy/
Now, the ultimate candidate against the open web is what China has built. They might be linked to the general internet everybody else enjoys, but it's a one way street: people can access their websites, but Chinese people can't access most of the rest of the internet, being limited to what the Chinese government allows.
China has built their own entire alternative internet, with their own services and their own websites, and it's not for nothing that we're talking about the great firewall of china, because when you're in there, you can't access anything the government has deemed "not ok".
https://priteshpawar.com/chinese-alternatives-to-popular-apps-and-websites/tech-industry-and-case-studies/priteshpawar/ that it would be a grave mistake to let their citizens have access to information sources that
Of course, it's not all doom and gloom. The internet is showing signs of healing, at least on certain fronts.
First, decentralized services are emerging again, slowly offering alternatives to the big closed down networks. Mastodon for example is a success story of a federated, decentralized network offering a viable alternative to Twitter, and that can talk to a variety of other services, like Pixelfed, Wordpress, Peerube, Castopod, and the like.
Various laws are also being passed, forcing big tech companies to relinquish a bit of control, over their platforms or app stores, for example, with Apple being forced in the EU to have iMessage be interoperable, and allowing 3rd party app stores on iOS.