The Empire Strikes Back: Or Does It?

This paper explores the tensions between those in government and business who wish to control the internet and those who wish to use its capabilities to introduce new types of services, and also between those who lessen the power of the individual and those who create synergisms between individuals and groups. The authors have provided an eclectic set of examples of initiatives which illustrate both trends. The paper concludes that while a conspiracy theorist might see a general pattern emerging, in fact these represent, on the one hand actions of large institutions which are attempting to retain their pre-internet business and governmental models, and on the other hand, the actions of individual groups trying to preserve the original spirit of the internet.