Privatizing the Internet

   In the beginning was the abacus, a mechanical gadget that enabled faster arithmetic calculations.
  Then came numerals, developed in the Arab world for faster and easier addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. It was so useful that it was adopted by speakers of many other languages around the world.
   Soon enough came mechanical adding machines and electronic calculators, which eventually became computers.
   But the problem was that while computers were and are wonderful devices by themselves, they could not always communicate with other computer systems at other facilities.
   Government-sponsored research groups scattered around the country and at various universities were unable to share the results of their work, so the government's Defense Department sponsored a network system the allowed them to do so. It was called ARPANET or DARPANET, from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency network.
   This system was so successful that it moved to the civilian world, and the Internet -- Interconnected Network -- of computer systems was born, using a programming system called "hypertext transfer protocol," or https, which is still in use.
   However, even this was not enough, so a programming expert developed and sponsored what he called the Worldwide Web (www), enabling any computer anywhere to tap into the Internet and communicate with other computers. Moreover, this expert -- Tim Burners-Lee of Britain -- refused to patent or claim ownership of the system because he felt it was too important to remain controlled by a single person or group.

   Now there is a move afoot in Washington to privatize operation and control of the Internet, giving corporations the ability to pick and choose who gets priority access to the system, what fees to charge, and what content can be posted on a system that was developed and paid for by government agencies using taxpayer funds and perfected by a scientist who refused to take money for his work.
   What does it all mean? It means that a communications system developed for the free exchange of information and opinion, open to everyone worldwide at little or no cost except for a low access fee will be controlled by corporations or government agencies more concerned with profit and propaganda than with freedom of information sharing, freedom of speech and freedom of the press as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America.