Who Owns The Internet ?
In most countries, the majority of e-mail traffic consists of spam, and the numbers get worse by the day. In practical terms, that means legitimate users of the Internet are now visitors, tourists, whose presence is tolerated by the real owners of the Internet — spammers.
Every cynical cliché about participatory democracy has had its turn on the stage in the struggle against spam — corrupt, misguided lawmakers and courts of law, examples of outright cowardice, free, open network protocols subverted and abused, and a gradual shift toward rule by the most parasitic and persistent, such that the rats are now in charge of the ship.
Some readers may wonder if the spam situation is really as bleak as I am painting it. After all, for most issues there is some basis for hope, some reason to say "the end is in sight." And in fact, about the spam issue, I can honestly say the end is in sight. According to statistics gathered by Ironport, a spam filtering firm, at the time of writing (late 2006), nine out of ten e-mails is spam. All the spammers have to do is figure out how to exterminate that last ten percent, and the promised end will be reached — all e-mails will be spam, all the time, day and night, 24/7.
Described as "a playground for thinkers",
www.arachnoid.com has some very interesting content. I was interested in the article
quoted above for one, but there is a lot more. Pour yourself a coffee and start clicking thru it.
You won't be disappointed.
