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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.

9 of 354 comments (clear)

  1. You Information Socialists Make Me Sick! by SeriouslyNoClue · · Score: 4, Funny

    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!

  2. Re:Oh my god is there anything we can do?!?! by Benosaurus · · Score: 3, Funny

    He clearly meant "Nougat".

  3. This is ridiculous by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.
  4. Re:Big announcement tomorrow? by orphiuchus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Another ipod update that erases all of my music and I have to pay for?

  5. Re:Oh my god is there anything we can do?!?! by mangu · · Score: 3, Funny

    If "nought" isn't the same as "nothing", then what did this ship dread?

  6. Re:Oh my god is there anything we can do?!?! by eviloverlordx · · Score: 4, Funny

    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'.
  7. Most iPhoners don't consider their phones hostile by Brannon · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  8. Re:Follow the money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    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"

  9. so, Apple embracing open standards is bad... by Brannon · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...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