Why Generation X will save the web - Hi, I'm Heather Burns.

Heather Burns with a commentary, or perhaps a call-to-action, for those that experienced the open web to get engaged in the regulatory and political activities starting to get some momentum.

We – the GenXers – think of the internet as the open web. The land of dialup telnet Unix systems, the days of table layout, the days of dot com, the days of early tech startups, the days of the internet as a connector, the days of the internet as a business opportunity, the days of the internet as a path to social justice and revolutions, the days of the internet as a light in the darkness. That’s all we have ever known.

Today’s policy facilitators – the millenials – think of the internet as MySpace and Facebook. The closed web. The land of always-on broadband and wifi, the days of content management systems, the days of tech bros, the days of the internet as a divider, the days of the internet as an acquisition for the giants, the days of the internet as a path to radicalisation and hatred, the days of the internet as petrol on a spark. That is all they have ever known.

I hadn't really considered that, but I suspect she is spot on. These senators are not writing this stuff, their aides are and they never even knew the open web.

The truths I held to be self-evident are things they have never known.

And, politically, they are in the driving seat. They are running the show.

Not me. Not the old folks. Them.

Hmm… 🤔