When Internet was first created in the 1970s, its leading designers, Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn, tried really hard to solve two problems: #1) how to design a system that seamlessly links lots of other networks, and #2) how to design a network that is future-proof.
The solution was surprisingly simple, and it became the base of almost all other major networks online.
First, there is no central ownership or control.
Meaning that no single personnel or organization could gather enough power to decide who should be part of the network, or what the network could be used for.
Secondly, the system isn’t optimized for any single application.
Music, data, image, movie, porn, the network doesn’t care. It transmits and treats everything equally.
Because of these two basic protocols, disruption online is simply a feature, not a bug.
And it’s not something we could stop. We are not just talking about someone writing an application that destroys the current music industry, or building a network that stumps the classified ads revenue for the newspaper industry. Also included in these disruptions are: viruses, malwares, “botnets”, or even “cyber terrorism”.
Understand that the disruptive nature of the Internet is by design, not a mistake, and not something that you could control, is the very first step for you to understand and utilize the Internet.
[Note: "Disruption is a feature, not a bug" comes from John Naughton's article, Everything you need to know about the Internet. A great read.]
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