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Peter Cochrane's Hard Drive 1998 Nothing to lose but our chains WITHOUT exception, every European institution I get involved with thinks in terms of the regulation and control of information and the Internet. This is in stark contrast to the United States where talk always centres on the freedom and exploitation of mass networking. From government to education and broadcasting, it is as if the Europeans really just do not understand. All they see is a threat that should be regulated, controlled and suppressed. The reality is that they might as well try to herd cats. The Internet is naturally out of, and beyond, control. The old universities, schools, broadcasters, network providers, regulators, agencies and legal establishments are alarmed at the concept of no control. It may be that they begrudge the concept of 100 per cent customer access, choice and control, but I suspect they just don't comprehend. They seem to have become so dogged by history and tradition they cannot conceive of any other way. Worse still, they seem fundamentally incapable of thinking out of their box. Public broadcasters often argue they are the last bastion of free speech and therefore an absolute necessity for a civilised future. Recent attempts at one media group to prevent the publishing of a book that would have been politically contentious in South East Asia certainly supports that argument. However, there are many more counter-examples, including the suppression of the identity of a Cabinet minister's son who had been involved with drugs. Fortunately this containment action was side-stepped by the Internet, which made all the information public and freely available weeks before the old media could disclose the name. The question now arises: will the non-controllist mentality map into the business world? Will Net activity be taxable and censored, or will it be totally free of government control? Is it possible to conceive of a world where bits are free and atoms are not? I think so, and I think it essential. But to make it work we need a new business model, a new way of creating the wealth necessary to sustain the physical infrastructure and well-being of societies. And I don't think such a model will emerge from Europe; we will have to look toward North America. I often hear people state that no one is making money on the Internet. Well, by the same token, no one makes money on the telephone, radio or billboards either. Clearly, none of this is strictly true. The Internet is already contributing billions of dollars' worth of trade to the global economy as a new and increasingly essential communications medium. Critically, it is also the first time direct bit sales have been possible. Information transmitted over all previous media merely prompted some human action that earned money. On the Net, bits are available for sale direct, for the first time, with no human intermediary or action. At the extremes machines trade in their own right, making money with minimal human help, and they can operate from anywhere, even from a satellite off planet. Perhaps this will be the first free trade zone. Peter Cochrane holds the Collier Chair for the Public Understanding of Science & Technology at the University of Bristol. His home page is: |
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