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Apple the No. 1 Danger To Net Freedom
CWmike writes "Columbia law professor Tim Wu, who coined the term 'net neutrality,' now says that Apple is the company that most endangers the freedom of the Internet. Wu recently published the book The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires, in which he details what he calls 'information empires' such as AT&T, NBC, Facebook, and Google. He told The New York Times, 'It's largely a story of the American affection for information monopolists and the consequences of that fondness.' When asked whether the Internet could similarly be controlled by large companies, he told the Times: 'I know the Internet was designed to resist integration, designed to resist centralized control, and that design defeated firms like AOL and Time Warner. But firms today, like Apple, make it unclear if the Internet is something lasting or just another cycle.' Asked which companies he feared most, Wu replied: 'Right now, I'd have to say Apple.'" Wu has been in the news a bit lately.
Information is the new capital! It should be bought and sold on markets, it should have rates associated with it and Perato Law should be applied!
All hail the new information emporer -- he that knowth what is right and wrong by virtue of his vast information resources! We should herald our new turtlenecked emporer and congratulate him on his victory with abjection, not this slime written by a clearly Oriental socialist!
He clearly meant "Nougat".
The guy's nuts. Apple is more like number 4. 3 tops.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Not!
Another ipod update that erases all of my music and I have to pay for?
If "nought" isn't the same as "nothing", then what did this ship dread?
iBrainImplant. Now you can enjoy music the right way.... the way Jobs dictates it. That's right Job's own playlist is constantly played in your head!
Note: side effects include a overwhelming compulsion to buy anything released from apple. This is a minor bug.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
If "nought" isn't the same as "nothing", then what did this ship dread?
American English?
'Loose' is when your pants are three sizes too big. 'Lose' is when you misuse 'loose'.
Shhh! Apple doesn't give everything away for free, clearly they are evil and must be stopped!
Most like that they don't have to run anti-virus/malware programs on them.
It's only the belligerent technorati who insist that everyone should either acquire l33t expertise on every device they use, or be afraid of those devices and forced to enlist the aid of some smug expert.
If "nought" isn't the same as "nothing", then what did this ship dread?
Apparently rust...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4215587585970919950#
Dvorak's Greatest Hits:
1984: "The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a ‘mouse’. There is no evidence that people want to use these things."
2006: "Apple will drop OS X for Windows"
2007: "Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone"
Mean ol' Apple using that proprietary Apple Audio Codec and putting DRM on Video when everybody else has DRM free files.
It's nice that I don't have to buy Windows to run all those programs that only works on windows. Apple really needs to catch up to the times.
So basically, this guy can predict the opposite of the future.
...because the fact that they have sufficient influence to push open standards indicates that they also have the power to do a lot of hypothetical bad things? like (I don't know) mass killing of puppies?
Is the solution to make sure that no entity ever has influence?
By your definition, things which are also bad:
1. Every company in the world.
2. every popular organization ever in the history of mankind ever.
3. all forms of functional government.
4. all forms of media, including the internet and the printing press.
5. anyone who has ever been modded +5