This was originally posted on heyheyrenee on October 22nd, 2015. I've modified it slightly, to bring in the importance of two critical figures in my life and Internet history - President Jimmy Carter, and Judge Harold Greene.
Dennis Ritchie along with Brian Kernighan wrote a book that changed my life - The C Programming Language. An old friend who invented audio conferencing calls it the Bible. I never cared much for Steve Jobs - at least while he was alive. Dennis, for me, was the man.
Notice how thin it is, how it's not your typical big fat programming book. That's the beauty of C - it's thin and elegant. C, is the greatest programming language ever.
Jimmy Carter and Judge Harold Greene were two other important persons in my life. Because of Carter and Greene, I'm in business today. Jimmy Carter appointed Judge Greene to preside over United States V. AT&T – Divestiture – the anti-trust case that led to the breakup of the AT&T – the phone company – and the creation of the 7 Baby Bells. It's been written that Carter appointed Greene because Carter thought that Greene was the only one capable of understanding the case.
Carter and Greene were both liberal Democrats. The work they did led to the creation of the Internet. Full stop.
35 years later, we're back to a phone company. Google, Facebook and Apple have gained control of our lives. We get our computers from two companies, Apple and Google. They control all aspects of the computer; from how it's made, to the apps, to what we read. Now Google wants to control the connection to the computers and Facebook has practically become the front door to the Internet.
Given the state of corporate control, I don't think it's realistic that the government will break up the tech giants. Instead, we'll have to do it ourselves. Fine. Bill McKibben led the charge against big oil, we'll make a new Internet.
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tty next time,
