:Linux Journal: In Seattle's Aftermath: Linux, Independent Media, and the Survival of Democracy
Linux Journal: In Seattle's Aftermath: Linux, Independent Media, and the Survival of Democracy Dec 14, 1999, 01 :33 UTC (8 Talkback[s]) (4128 reads) (Other stories by Bryan Pfaffenberger)
"Independent digital media can't survive without an OS and an Internet that are free from corporate control."
"If you'd like just one good reason why Linux is so vital to the survival of the Internet as a publicly accessible medium, just take a look at Microsoft
Windows 98. It's designed in such a way as to further Microsoft's market ambitions, as the good Judge Jackson recently affirmed, but it's also a dream
come true for companies hoping to transform the Internet into a corporate-dominated medium."
"With Windows 98, you're basically forced to use Internet Explorer. You can't delete it, and you're in for a "jolting experience" should you try to run
another browser. For this reason, there's a uniform, predictable platform that's in daily use by millions of Internet surfers. Tightly integrated with the
operating system and Microsoft mail utilities, Internet Explorer ideally suits the interests of corporate intruders as well as virus authors. You can exploit
the tight, internal connections in all sorts of creative ways. And if you're using this very dynamic duo, you can't shield yourself; you don't even know
what's going on. Sure, Internet Explorer gives you the apparent means to defeat cookies, but this feature borders on deception. It amounts to an
all-or-nothing proposition; essentially, either you accept all cookies without scrutiny, or you turn them off--and then you can't visit any site that requires
them. It's only when you escape from the world of corporate-controlled media that you see other options. For example, the KDE browser enables you to
specify which domains you're willing to accept cookies from--it's a simple, straightforward means to assure that you're tracked by only those sites you've
chosen to trust."
