Ask HN: Will the next Berlin Wall be digital?

2 pointsnexus6mike6y ago2 comments

It's been 23 years since China announced its intention to launch a national Intranet. [1] In 2019, Russia publicly initiated plans to follow suit. [2] [3] [4]

Where do we go from here? Is the world's next Berlin Wall destined to be digital?

Consider the following excerpts from a Nov. 2019 speech given by Ian Bremmer [5]:

"[The global market for data and information] is breaking in two. It is no longer global. In the beginning, the internet—the Worldwide Web—was driven by a single set of standards and rules. With very few exceptions, one consumer had virtually the same access as another. No longer."

"Today, China and the United States are building two distinct online ecosystems. That's true for the transformation of today's internet, but also for the construction of the new internet of things. The American tech ecosystem, with all its strengths and shortcomings, is built by the private sector and (loosely) regulated by the government. The Chinese system is dominated by the state. That's also true for big data collection, for development of artificial intelligence, for the rollout of 5G cellular network technology, and for defense and retaliation against cyberattacks."

"This leaves us with a big question: Where exactly will the new Berlin Wall stand? Where will we find the boundary between one technological system and the other? Will Europe align with the United States? Or will the EU fragment into individual decisions within individual European countries? How will India position itself? And South Korea? And Brazil? What pressures will even Japan face?"

[1] https://www.cnet.com/news/chinas-national-intranet/

[2] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/12/russia_disconnect_internet_intranet/

[3] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50902496

[4] https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/26/russia-starts-testing-its-own-internal-internet/

[5] https://www.eurasiagroup.net/live-post/end-of-american-order-ian-bremmer-2019-gzero-summit-speech

2 comments

sigmaprimus6y ago

I don't have the answer but wanted to share a recent observation:

I have been noticing and huge increase of viral videos comming out of China recently, I'm guessing this is a result of China's growing middle class that now own cell phones.

Having lived through the last couple decades of the cold war, I can assure you, no amount of censorship will keep media and the ideas it carries away from a nations people. If anything it will make it more appealing.

slick506y ago

I've noticed that those in power are adding more and more regulations to businesses. This sounds good on the surface, but the end result is that small companies don't have the money or the attorneys to handle the red tape involved in keeping up with these regulations and big companies love it because it shuts the door on future competition.

If the EU doesn't break up completely in the next decade, I predict that European websites and web-related businesses will be a thing of the past for startups and small companies, unless they have the backing of a huge conglomerate/mega corporation or the government. Maybe this was the intended plan?

I, for one, don't want a future where governments and large corporations control the Internet

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