Comment by DanAtC
4 years ago
I don't understand where the myth of a "free" Internet comes from. Since privatization in 1993, you've always been held to _someone's_ terms of service. Even if you become your own ISP--get an ASN, IP space, a place to rack equipment--you still have to find someone to peer with, and if you bring enough heat you'll find yourself dropped.
Not to mention DNS which is subject to the laws of the country of registrar; plenty of pirate sites have had their domains have been seized by the US gov't.
By that definition nothing at all is free.
There's a difference between literal freedom and de facto freedom. If there's an abandoned factory that kids like to graffiti, is it free for their grafitti use? It de facto is. If the owner puts a security guard there, then it is no longer de facto free.