“But on the net, anyone can invent any application that he can get his buddies to use. No central authority had to give permission for the Web to exist: A physicist just hacked it together one day, distributed the software to his colleagues, and in just a very short while, people all over the world had the Web.
“So the net can live on top of the phone network and it can run voice-calling as an application, but it’s not tied to the phone network. It doesn’t care whose wires or wireless it lives on top of. It’s got all these virtues that are key to free expression. That’s why we care about this.”
The kid nodded as he talked, impatiently, signaling in body language that even Alan could read that he’d heard this already.
“Yes, in this abstract sense, there are a bunch of things to like about your Internet over there. But I’m talking about practical, nonabstract, nontheoretical stuff over here. The real world. I can get a phone for free. I can talk to everyone with it. I can say anything I want. I can use it anywhere. Sure, the phone company is a giant conspiracy by The Man to keep us down. But can you really tell me with a straight face that because I can’t invent the Web for my phone or make free long distance calls I’m being censored?”
“Of course not,” Kurt said. Alan put a steadying hand on his shoulder. “Fine, it’s not an either-or thing. You can have your phones, I can have my Internet, and we’ll both do our thing. It’s not like the absence of the Web for phones or high long-distance charges are good for free expression, Christ. We’re trying to unbreak the net so that no one can own it or control it. We’re trying to put it on every corner of the city, for free, anonymously, for anyone to use. We’re doing it with recycled garbage, and we’re paying homeless teenagers enough money to get off the street as part of the program. What’s not to fucking like?”
The kid scribbled hard on his pad. “Now you’re giving me some quotes I can use. You guys need to work on your pitch. ‘What’s not to fucking like?’ That’s good.”
He and Link saw each other later that day, and Link still had his two little girls with him, sitting on the patio at the Greek’s, drinking beers, and laughing at his jokes.
“Hey, you’re the guy with the books,” one of them said when he passed by.
He stopped and nodded. “That’s me, all right,” he said.