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The Internet as One Giant Con

posted by LaminatorX on Tuesday February 10 2015, @08:13PM   Printer-friendly
from the everything-is-awesome dept.

Gordon Shure writes:

Veteran author and longtime Silicon Valley resident Andrew Keen has stepped up his criticisms of the Internet. Describing the net as a platform that has devolved from its initial ideals and promise into a vehicle of monopolistic, manipulative and exploitative practices, a Guardian article summarizes views now gaining traction. By using Amazon, Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Uber or any other online giant, are we striking a Faustian pact, behind which lays a mass of suffering, surveillance and ruthless harvesting?

Keen supports his arguments by mentioning that even online businesses that cite individual collaboration, those of the 'sharing' economy, are mere cynical fronts for firms already valued in the billions. As money has been sucked out of retail, transportation, photography, research and other industries into the coffers of new Internet giants, the net result has been losses of jobs and the compromise of working conditions. As for the Internet's much-touted 'individual empowerment', Keen counters with the rise of mob mentality - “Rather than creating more democracy, it’s empowering the rule of the mob. Rather than encouraging tolerance, it’s unleashed such a distasteful war on women that many no longer feel welcome on the network". Keen's book - The Internet is not the Answer - is, a touch ironically, available on Amazon.

 
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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by WillAdams on Tuesday February 10 2015, @09:05PM

    by WillAdams (1424) on Tuesday February 10 2015, @09:05PM (#143305)

    Rather than selling the book, he should've made it available under a free license and posted it to wikibooks.

    Moreover, he's ignoring opensource efforts which are individual driven or otherwise exist purely for the good of humanity:

      - reprap.org
      - shapeoko.com
      - http://opensourcecureforcancer.com/ [opensourcecureforcancer.com]
      - http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/ [might.net]
      - http://opensourceecology.org/ [opensourceecology.org]

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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday February 10 2015, @09:12PM

    by VLM (445) on Tuesday February 10 2015, @09:12PM (#143307)

    archive.org
    github
    freebsd

    The nicer parts of 4chan meet your criteria. Nobody hangs out in /diy or /out because they're whoring for karma and upvotes and internet fame, they just hang out there because they like the topic.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 10 2015, @10:17PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 10 2015, @10:17PM (#143333)

    There are some other bright lights in the darkness. A couple off the top of my head:

    https://www.freecycle.org/ [freecycle.org]
    http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites [craigslist.org]