A Democratic Internet

Art Brodsky
April 25, 2006

Art Brodsky is communications director for Public Knowledge , a public interest group working at the intersection of information and technology policy.

Right now, you’re reading TomPaine.com because you want to, and because you can. Those two principles have been the reason the Internet as we know it has been so successful for almost 20 years. The Internet as we know it provides infinite choice to those who use it, and easy access to customers and consumers for those who have a service to provide. No printing presses are needed, no buying of paper, no distribution. Those major expenses, which for years had to be borne by publications, have all disappeared with the World Wide Web. All TomPaine.com —or any website—needs (technically speaking, of course) are computers, servers and access to the Internet.

The result has been the most unique explosion of creativity in history. This was all made possible because the Internet was open to anyone who wanted to go looking for interesting material or who wanted to create interesting material, and because anyone with a good idea could put it out there and see what happens. Google happens. Yahoo happens. YouTube happens.