We're losing control of the Internet

Two stories hit my desk today that serve as a stark reminder that the Internet as we know and love it is not guaranteed to continue on indefinitely.

The first was the announcement that the Senate Commerce Committee split their vote on proposed compromise language on Net Neutrality (the idea that carriers should treat every packet on the internet the same). Plenty has been written on this subject so I won’t repeat the arguments here, but suffice it to say that the failure to guarantee neutrality on the net is a huge loss to anyone who cares about the future of the internet (and has a clue).

The second was sent by my partner Greg Galanos via Brad and pointed to the Wired blog post on how to detect whether your net traffic is being sniffed by the government. It highlights an analysis done by the EFF that concludes that the allegations of AT&T secret surveillance rooms are likely valid, that the program covers domestic traffic, not just international traffic and that the system is capable of looking at content, not just addresses. You can read the full EFF report here (its been redacted by the government for security purposes).

Nothing furthers innovation and progress like putting pricing control in the hands of ologopic carriers and spying on individuals’ use of technology. Party on!