Or maybe it's "where we went right". Let's imagine a world where TCP/IP was encrypted. What consequences would this have? 1: it would have spread a lot slower. Effective encryption was VERY expensive 30 years ago. 2: The powers in charge would have been much less likely to let commercial interests and non-research institutions connect.

The most likely possibility in that environment? It may well have caused AOL to win. Remember, network effects are hugely important. Sure, the digerati would have accounts on compuserve or the Well, but they would have also have had an AOL account because everybody was on AOL.

I shudder.