The Internet is no longer simply giant a data roadway carrying information between business and government entities. The internet has grown to the extent that it now reaches most homes in America, in fact a very high and rapidly growing number of homes around the world. The general perception I have found to be prevalent with home computer users is that the Internet is thought of as a sleek, exceptionally modern and extremely sophisticated instrument. In many ways this is true, but in the Internet's social introduction to our society as a whole it is still a crude and often misunderstood mechanism.
Conceptually we are actually in the days of America's wild west when roads reached most locations were dirt and the rule of law was scarce. On today's Internet one could even consider the situation metaphorically worse for the end user than traveling the old dirt roads of the mid 1800's westward to the California coast. True, the ultimate consequence of the pioneers was often a much more dire result, but the odds of being accosted were less than that of today's early Internet traveler.
In fact, being on the Internet today and traveling the currently popular routes is much more like being a steer in a cattle drive to market with a 100% chance of being tracked, stamped, herded and resold; with the exception of those rare few who truly understand the flawed architecture of our current I-Way and are able to break free.
Breaking free need not look like yanking the wheel of our vehicles sharply to the right, bouncing through the ditch, crashing through a barbed wire fence and then charging through an uncharted no-mans land. There are perfectly suitable side roads, perhaps not as visibly marked and a bit bumpier than the mega-pathways of the I-Way, but they are certainly safer for our travels. These are easily shared routes each person can travel in ways that make them their own.
So let’s take a moment, ease the I-Way vehicle to the shoulder, and consider where we are. Then we can assess where we really want to be and decide on the best course for getting there, a much better course specific to the needs of each traveler of the Information Super Highway.