The very idea that Bill Gates is now accumulating digital images, and the rights to digital images of artworks and museum collections, as the next big source of online control via Corbis Image library, worries me. The article “Database Aesthetics: Of Containers, Chronofiles, Time Capsules, Xanadu, Alexandria and the World Brain … “ by Victoria Vesna, mentioned that Hardware gave way to Software, and the next vital commodity is Content. The entire idea of Internet2 also, I hate to say it, worries me. Privatization of and controlled access to information and web content is on the corporate agenda.
While there may indeed be overload, the fact that it’s all there for you to use or ignore at will is rather exciting. The thought that the democratic and open information access we have enjoyed may be coming to an end, for the almighty dollar, is just nasty.
I wonder if people will fight back? It seems that Brewster Kahle attempted to do so with his Internet Archive, in which he has been archiving web pages since 1994, and providing searchable access to anything that was once online. Kahle is the inventor and founder of Wide Area Information Servers Inc., which was recently acquired by America Online, which makes me wonder who will acquire the Internet Archive from him in future?
