"Blog" by Hugh Hewitt, plus my own thoughts

I am reading a fascinating book by Hugh Hewitt, "Blog, Understanding the Information Reformation...". This book is not new, but I just discovered it myself. It documents how blogging is changing the world and the way information is shared. Blogging is breaking the monopoly on what is considered "news" by the mainstream news media, and the world of blogging has become a major source of current information, on par with TV news, newspapers and magazines, and talk radio. I say "breaking", but I should say, "has broken", and the influence of blogs is still growing rapidly.

I think the Internet has gone thru three stages. In the first stage it was used only by a few such as universities and researchers. It was not very commercialized. Then it spread to the public at large, became the World Wide Web, and became very commercialized. But even as it spread it was mostly a way for ordinary people to get information, and only a few created the information.
But that has changed and is continuing to change. More and more people are speaking on the Internet as well as listening and it has become a vehicle for two-way communication. Anyone can create a blog, or a full-blown website. Anyone can promote their site with search engine advertising. And we can do it anonymously if we want.

Even tho I am a computer programmer, computers and the Internet still fascinate me. Anyone can create a site or post to a blog or forum, and then receive emails and responses instantly from people anywhere in the world. That amazes me.

Things are also very unregulated, which means the Internet can be used for good or bad. We can use it to share useful ideas and information, but it can also be used maliciously, to hurt people's reputations. Copyright violations are common. Lies are even more common. And there are scams, identity thieves, viruses, spyware, email spam, and the like. There is little law enforcement. Sometimes I think www stands for the Wild Wild West.

Perhaps that will change. Just as law and order eventually came to the West, perhaps law enforcement will get serious about cracking down on those who use the Internet for illegal schemes (some day). But I hope that the freedom of speech that exists on the Internet is not diminished anytime soon. Even tho some abuse this freedom, I wouldn't want the United States government regulating what I can say or not say.