I have only just begun reading this rather lengthy article by Doc Searls, so I am storing it here for later. He spoke on some of these issues when he spoke at UNC last fall. You can look over that presentation here. I read about the article at Dave Weinberger’s blog. Dave points to a number of other discussions on the article, but does not appear to be so hopful himself.
“Saving the Net: How to Keep the Carriers from Flushing the Net Down the Tubes”
By Doc Searls on Wed, 2005-11-16 02:00. Industry News
We’re hearing tales of two scenarios–one pessimistic, one optimistic–for the future of the Net. If the paranoids are right, the Net’s toast. If they’re not, it will be because we fought to save it, perhaps in a new way we haven’t talked about before. Davids, meet your Goliaths.