In one view you have 'America, World Police' being handed a defeat. That is a good thing because I believe that both the precedents the USA is trying to set on the world scene are wrong, they will also come back to roost in unpleasant ways.
In one view you have a victory for the Libertarian Internet which gives us a stronger 'nation independent' view of the Internet, but this is part of a wider set of events which are trying to figure out the role of the 'information-state' if such a thing could exist. This is stuff SF writers have chewed on considerably and to see it in 'real life' is fascinating.
In the third view we have someone who has many of the characteristics of 'nerds' which seem to have taken on some of the aspects of a counter culture.
The interesting things is that this fiasco has neatly tied together three on-going 'conversations' [1] about the autonomy of the Internet, the role of nation states in world government, and the rise of 'nerd culture'.
As we enter the 'post-American' century the discussion of world government will be be, by far, the most influential on our day to day lives, but the autonomy of the Internet will also become a central theme, much as human rights is a central theme in our interactions. The story of Kim Dotcom will then fade to being the tag line for one of the things that shaped how we feel about the first two.
[1] The term 'conversations' here is used to indicate that its a topic of discussion at all levels of our society with various competing views fighting for dominance as the 'group consensus'. This is also the name of the process by which a community arrives at a common understanding much like two people conversing about the topic might come to a consensus.
In one view you have 'America, World Police' being handed a defeat. That is a good thing because I believe that both the precedents the USA is trying to set on the world scene are wrong, they will also come back to roost in unpleasant ways.
In one view you have a victory for the Libertarian Internet which gives us a stronger 'nation independent' view of the Internet, but this is part of a wider set of events which are trying to figure out the role of the 'information-state' if such a thing could exist. This is stuff SF writers have chewed on considerably and to see it in 'real life' is fascinating.
In the third view we have someone who has many of the characteristics of 'nerds' which seem to have taken on some of the aspects of a counter culture.
The interesting things is that this fiasco has neatly tied together three on-going 'conversations' [1] about the autonomy of the Internet, the role of nation states in world government, and the rise of 'nerd culture'.
As we enter the 'post-American' century the discussion of world government will be be, by far, the most influential on our day to day lives, but the autonomy of the Internet will also become a central theme, much as human rights is a central theme in our interactions. The story of Kim Dotcom will then fade to being the tag line for one of the things that shaped how we feel about the first two.
[1] The term 'conversations' here is used to indicate that its a topic of discussion at all levels of our society with various competing views fighting for dominance as the 'group consensus'. This is also the name of the process by which a community arrives at a common understanding much like two people conversing about the topic might come to a consensus.