“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.”