1. An internal US/Canadian anglophone Net, with many of the original characteristics
2. Separate national Nets, with limited outside links
3. A new global Net specifically to link the nets of category 2
4. Possibly a specific EU Net
As you can see, this structure parallels the existing geopolitical structure.
All telecommunications infrastructure has followed similar patterns. (…)
Current EU policy pretends to be neutral in this way, but in fact it is supporting the growth of English as a contact language in EU communications policy.
*Interview of July 25, 1999
= What has happened since our 1998 interview?
The nature of the Internet has changed dramatically in the last two years. It is no longer possible to speak of idealistic social or political effects: the Net is entirely commercialised. I find this entirely predictable. I have always described the Internet as a liberal structure, a market of information. It is logical that it is now commercialised.
It is often said the Internet is now like television. Certainly the content is determined by market forces and is increasingly split into very large sites with huge quantities of information. In some ways, these are like television channels, but the metaphor is not completely accurate.