More from Rifkin's new book, The Zero Marginal Cost Society

He has a new blog post with another excerpt from the book. This time it addresses net neutrality, an issue I've been harping on. If the greedy capitalists have their way they'll undermine this entire project but privatizing the internet. If we the people don't get our government to correct this recent ruling we will only go further down this road and Rifkin's dream will remain only that.

"Until the present, the Internet, and now the more expansive Internet of Things, has been managed as a global Commons with three primary stakeholders playing a collaborative role in its governance -- the government, private sector, and civil society. Now, however, the private sector is beginning to stray from the three-party stakeholder alliance, seeking increased income and profits by way of price discrimination -- a move that threatens to undermine one of the guiding principles of the Internet: network neutrality, a principle that assures a nondiscriminatory, open, universal Communications Commons in which every participant enjoys equal access and inclusion."

And this on the internet monopolists like Facebook. I keep trying to make people aware of just what they are participating in by using this fascist tool.


"And it's not just the telecom and cable companies that are muscling in from the outside, attempting to enclose the IoT. [...] Some of the biggest Internet companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, are cashing in on the very rules of engagement that made them so successful and selling the masses of transmitted Big Data that comes their way to commercial bidders and businesses that use it for targeted advertising and marketing campaigns, research efforts, the development of new goods and services, and a host of other commercial propositions. They are, in effect, exploiting the Commons for commercial ends."

Also the energy companies are fighting to prevent an energy smart grid. But the EU, unlike the US, is smart enough to fight back, as they are on the forefront of this evolution.

"The European Union, the world's largest economy, has taken steps to keep the Energy Internet an open architecture by requiring that conventional power and utility companies unbundle their power generation from their transmission of electricity. The unbundling regulations came about because of growing complaints by millions of small, new renewable energy producers that the big power and utility companies were making it difficult for them to connect their local micropower plants to the main transmission grid. The companies were also accused of discriminatory practices that favored speedy connectivity for green electricity generated by affiliated business partners and of imposing bureaucratic delays and even refusing to accept green electricity from others."