The internet will be Very Different soon.

[cthulu2016]

After a decade plus of crying wolf about how the content rights giants were about to put the hammer down, I think some folks assume that the current (last year/next year) crackdown will be easily side-stepped somehow because it always has been in the past.

But this time really is different. The DMCA has teeth and a will to act.

Most "upload" sites have shut down, and most of those that remain block American ISPs. More and more things on youtube are pared down to only the version that has advertising. Google image becomes a less useful resource daily. The big ISPs are inaugurating a bandwidth throttling approach to illegal downloads.

This is both good and bad... good and bad isn't the point. It is different. For the first time since its inception the internet is shrinking.

And different will mean changes... most of which will be impossible to predict.

But that never stopped us before! So predict away...

[closeupready]

1. Well of course, nothing is static; change is constant and always happening.

So the internet, like everything, is naturally changing.

If your premise is simply making that observation, that's similar to saying, 'water is wet' or 'the earth revolves around the sun'.

I would reply that the internet is not shrinking at all. It continues to expand. What is happening is that it is being subjected to more regulation and being commodified so as to sell access for a profit.

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. Where does change come from? It comes from the owners of course.

That's the fundamental change. Google, comcast, AT&T, RIAA and the business software alliance now own it. You're allowed on their streets only at their suffrage.

[upaloopa]

3. I notice changes all the time. The one that pissed me off the most

when I used to search for reference material about a ship or plane I was modeling I would fine the information just about as I expected it to be. Now about 80% of the links are trying to sell me something. Then for ever after that you get these adds along with what ever is on your screen with things relating to what your research was.
I won't buy from a company who feels it's ok to shove its product in my face.

[Electric Monk]

4. God bless America, land of the free

[msongs]

5. internet should be a public utility but our corporate prostitute dems and repubs won't allow that nt

[madinmaryland]

6. Hell! Even DU has undergone changes over the years. There are still folks posting

over at DU2 who refuse to move on up to DU3!!

[Bluenorthwest]

7. I won't notice a thing, none of that crap has anything to do with how I use the internet.

Also I despise the word 'content' when used to mean creative arts, literature, music, cinema. I just do. It is not 'content' anyone seeks it is songs and shows and stories. Calling it 'content' shows inherent contempt for both the art and the artist if you ask me.