Mona Chollet revisits the utopia of the great self-produced and self-run world network and relates in counterpoint the sad reality of “e-business”. The pioneering internet has undoubtedly aged badly and traders are fighting like cats and dogs to have their hold over us: the people and free users of the network.
It is actually a war; a war of content and access. A war of procedures and budgets, where the freedom of expression is disappearing to the benefit of firms who want to carve up the network and organize it for their own needs.
In this war between traders and citizens, the political class, dragged down by the new economy, is trying to stay afloat.
Is protected, safe e-commerce therefore the grand plan for the 21st century? To realize the collective intelligence we dream of, merchandise cannot take the place of a political project on this socially useful network.
So let's invent something.