The end of times for the internet

[perkunas]

I remember back in the 70s when the university's were connecting each other to the internet. Wow those were truly cutting edge times, no one cared about property rights or $$ they just wanted the dam thing to work.
Today that's not the case and i don't think most people know how bad it's become.
Try buying a piece of software without giving out your personal info, and they want it over the net, that's never secure. Most blogs want the same before you post anything. Who are these people, and are you so sure they wont sell your info to someone.?
Remember when face book got broken into, people had their bank accounts busted, because most people use the same password with their bank. That's why i wont use face book. Web sites i cant use anymore because my government decided i cant go there. Most of them are on the edge for the property rights lawyers, but all of them are cutting edge in terms of innovation. This is creating have and have not countries, how can you contribute to cutting edge software when your not even allowed to see what it is?. I could go on and on but my point is its like a virus slowly destroying the net.

[D-cat]

The net caught this "virus" I think in the 90's when it was discovered by Corporate America. While the do-gooders were busy trying to hook up this educational information sharing platform to every possible school and library they could get funding for, others were busy turning it from an education platform to a commercial platform. Even sites like this whose primary function is education and info sharing are not immune... it's an excellent place with AdBlock, but otherwise the overlay ads and smartlinks make it intollerable. I've seen some other sites where the ads cover the text in the forum sections, making them useless (unless you use a certain commercial browser).

Now it's true that any government computer is going to be blocked from the many bandwith hogging or info sharing sites. This is a cruel necessity to avoid the kind of damage and costs on various levels that simply viewing these sites can cause (especially on Windows based computers).

It's not fair, but I wouldn't blame any government for it... I blame Corporate America.

[oz]

I have to agree with what D-cat said above, and add that while it might not be the end of the Internet, I do think all the commercialism has pretty much ruined it, at least from my own point of view.

[elija]

The commercialism of the Internet isn't all bad. Who here hasn't bought something online?

And lets face it - without ads and other paid services sites like this one wouldn't exist. But yeah the overlay ads drive me to using ad block plus even on this site where as I wouldn't if they weren't there.

[MikeTbob]

The commercialism of the Internet isn't all bad. Who here hasn't bought something online?

And lets face it - without ads and other paid services sites like this one wouldn't exist. But yeah the overlay ads drive me to using ad block plus even on this site where as I wouldn't if they weren't there.

That's so true and well said elijah!
But that doesn't mean we have to like it! I agree with a lot of the points made here but I think we should all keep in mind too,,the Internet is still evolving ridiculously fast and I think sometime within the next 10-15 years will bring changes so drastic that it won't be anything like it is now.

[nujinini]

...
the Internet is still evolving ridiculously fast and I think sometime within the next 10-15 years will bring changes so drastic that it won't be anything like it is now.

darn! I better double time on my learning or else by the time I think I know enough, they might already be obsolete

[cousinlucky]

It is a terrible thing to be driven away from a website that you are interested in because of the many ads or the constant requests for donations but that has happened to me.

I think I would discontinue my website if I had to put any ads on it!!

[MikeTbob]

It is a terrible thing to be driven away from a website that you are interested in because of the many ads or the constant requests for donations but that has happened to me.

I think I would discontinue my website if I had to put any ads on it!!

Unless you got 10,000 visits per month, in which case......someone would be losing money somewhere. Or you'd think about ads in a new light.

[cousinlucky]

I would not put any ads on my website even if it received 1,000,000 hits per month. I really despise all ads, I dislike any and all attempts at any commercial coercion!!

[MikeTbob]

I would not put any ads on my website even if it received 1,000,000 hits per month. I really despise all ads, I dislike any and all attempts at any commercial coercion!!

I hear you cuz.....but you gotta pay them bills man.