[Air-l] NSF, Science Communication, and Google

Art McGee amcgee at virtualidentity.org
Fri May 21 16:56:24 PDT 2004


> I can imagine that their experience in the program shaped
> the company's ethos, which emphasized technical expertise
> and de-emphasized immediate commercial returns, which has
> turned out to be a pretty profitable approach.

That's not just the story behind Google, it's the story of
the Internet itself. Folks seem to forget that pretty much
the entirety of the research that created the Internet came
from taxpayer-dollars, and was developed in scientific, DoD,
governmental, and research environments. Of course, the
question that never gets asked is, if the taxpayers paid for
it, why do we allow corporations and private individuals to
get rich off of it? Oops, there I go, bringing up politics
and larger issues of power again:

Net Loss:
Internet Prophets, Private Profits, and the Costs to Community
By Nathan Newman
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0271022051/

Net Loss:
Government, Technology and the Political Economy of Community
in the Age of the Internet
http://www.nathannewman.org/diss/


Art McGee
Principal Consultant
Virtual Identity
Communications+Media+Technology
1-510-967-9381
artmcgee at cyberspace.org

"On the Internet, no one can tell that you're a dog,
and that's a good thing, 'cause if they could, they
would most likely beat you to death."

---Art McGee
   "USENET: alt.flame.niggers"
   AfroAm-L Mailing List
   April 17, 2004




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