Hacker News Reader

Comment by matheusmoreira | Hacker News Reader

> With corporations doing their best to remove that ability

Governments too. It's an international network but they all want to impose their laws on it. We'll probably end up with fragmented regional networks instead of a single global network. We'll probably see heavy filtering at the borders. Even if we use mesh networks to eliminate the need for centralized ISPs, they depend on radio to work so authorities can always track down and stop everyone running a node.

We are privileged to have experienced the true internet before the powers that be destroyed it. A true global network where data used to flow freely. I'll miss it.

View on HN

I wonder if this will give rise to more darknets. Perhaps one day communicating across the border without sharing that communication with your government will be treated the same as smuggling.

That's a really bleak future. I wish there were politicians that fought to keep these kinds of freedoms.

Yeah, it's bleak. The truth is free computing and communications are subversive technologies. They allows us to lock them out, to evade their controls and laugh at their authority. They make laws, people make technology to get around them. With every iteration, the tyranny required to maintain the same level of control over the governed is increased. They won't tolerate these games for much longer. Even more importantly, technology allows us to effectively organize opposition to those in power and that's something they absolutely won't tolerate. Western governments are already surveilling even peaceful protesters.

I believe we'll eventually end up with ubiquitous technology empowering an ungovernable population or totalitarian governments that control all technology by force.

In my opinion totalitarian governments willl not allow an ungovernable population to exist anywhere on the globe. Also, a majority of the population will not care as long as they're fed and amused. It's still just about food and games.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com