Great article by Doc Searls and David Weinberger discussing what the Internet is and what it is not. Many, many people have a very very confused understanding of what exactly the Internet is and this article clears that up well. To give you an understanding of exactly how mis-understood the Internet is by lawmakers let me tell you a little story:
I work and live in Oklahoma (go Sooners). A couple of years ago big news was made when a local state representative wanted to pass a law that would ban any pornography, viewed via the Internet, within state limits. Seriously! Now regardless of your particular views on pornography, freedom of speech, or social moral obligation; this idea was simply ludicrous. All the proposed law did was show that the lawmaker had no conceptual idea of what the Internet was. If you are gonna pass the Oklahoma anti-porn law; why not simply ban all tornadoes from Oklahoma while you are at it… from now on tornadoes are not allowed within state limits. And these are the people who we count on to make sound judgments about the future of technology in America?
Fundamentally the Internet is simply a new communication standard. The Internet is not simply a communications mediem (for example a telephone, or fax machine) but a language for communication between things. In the same way that writen language allows me to communicate in many different ways (books, stop signs, love letters, posters, etc..), about an infinate amount of topics. And as such the only requirement to be part of the writen world is to know how to write. Looking at it that way it is fairly easy to see why the internet cannot be owned, everyone can use it, and anyone can add/improve it.