Elon University

A vision for the future

This is one of nearly a thousand foresight statements shared by people from around the world. To return to the Voices of the People home page or to refine your search, click here.

Name: Andy Dunning

From: Colorado

Bio: Internet User and tech historian

Area of Expertise: Advocate/Voice of the People

Topic: Community/Culture

Headline: Economic Stakeholders Find Dominance

Nutshell: Those who hold the greatest economic stakes - the greatest potential to make or lose money - will rule the future of the net.

Vision:

The internet, like television, has great potential as a public-information resource. What has happened and will continue to happen, however, is that those who stand to make money will rule this new frontier and bend it to their purposes.

It will be just as in the case of television or radio; the FCC and other organizations intended to represent pubic interest will be co-opted in the process.

Information will be homogenized, and exercise of countervailing power, though continuous, will be marginalized. In the process, the sheer volume of information available will confuse the average user even more than s/he is today and result in further adherence to the expressed homogenous, unexamined, majority opinion.

Date Submitted: November 12, 2004

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