A look at the history of the internet, from ARPANET & NSFNET, through privatization, to Tim-Berners Lee, Yahoo, Netscape, Google, eBay, and Facebook, examining Microsoft’s antitrust court case and their battle against Open Source and Free Software, Bill Gate’s Open Letter to Hobbyists and the leaked Halloween Documents. Then comes a look at the emergence of Surveillance Capitalism, and how platforms like AirBnb & Uber coopt the idea of the community and lobby politicians. Finally, a look at some alternatives.

BY THEN & NOW

Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction to the History of the Internet
04:06 – Building the Net
20:37 – The Browser Wars (Microsoft vs the United States)
44:35 – The Californian Ideology (eBay, Yahoo, Google and the Libertarian Mind)
01:07:26 – The Raiding of Privacy (Surveillance Capitalism)
01:18:05 – Facebook
01:26:07 – The Theft of the Community (Airbnb & Uber)
01:40:31 – No Place (Utopian Dreams)
01:49:38 – Open Source vs Microsoft
01:59:24 – Conclusion: Politics, Policy, and Alternatives