In London internet cafes, ticket machines have displaced staff — just one more sign of cost cutting in the internet industry. Internet investors have had a difficult year making profits, and internet workers have paid: many businesses have gone broke and hundreds of thousands of workers have been sacked.
This is one measure of the internet at the end of 2001. But there are others.
On the positive side, the internet has probably now been used by 400 million people. Every month more people are using it for communication and information. The disinterest in novelties, such as Internet via television, or growing boredom with many commercial web sites, has not affected its value and use for email and other communication.
The left and progressive movements have made great use of the internet this year to get out the truth about the US war on Afghanistan. It also continues to provide a unique forum for international discussion and debates on political issues.
On the negative side, capitalist governments and courts continue to tighten restrictions on internet use.
Among the latest efforts is a plan by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to release a virus-style program called Magic Lantern to infect personal computers, according to an MSNBC report.
This would be sent via an apparently friendly email, then sit on the PC and capture password information to send back to the FBI. John Leyden describes this in report in the November 27 Register. Unlike other viruses, however, it may be hard for users to spot. Eric Chien, chief researcher for anti-virus software maker Symantec, has said that his software will report that no virus has been found, deliberately misleading users. While this may be a politically smart move, it could be commercial suicide. At least some other anti-virus software manufacturers are less cooperative.
For the moment, national competition seems likely to stall the FBI plans (users could expect that French anti-virus software, for example, would reveal Magic Lantern). But internet regulation and restriction remains a major threat.
The other immediate threat is the increasing control over intellectual freedom being granted to the media corporations by US courts, most recently ruling in favour of the ban on publication of software that overcomes DVD security techniques.
Despite these setbacks, after another year the internet remains a relatively uncontrolled medium, something to be defended, used, and celebrated.
BY GREG HARRIS
From Green Left Weekly, January 16, 2002.
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