I said in the previous post that there were two Achilles’ heels to the digital world. The second is composed of, I think, six groups who control access to all the pleasures of the digital world. They are the Guardians Of Access – the GOA.

Who are the GOA?:

- Those who control access to the connection to the Internet, like governments. Or cable-companies. The GOA1.

- Those who supply access to the connection to the Internet, the Internet Service Providers, broadband or lower. They can cut off Internet access to an individual subscriber if they so choose or are requested or told to. the GOA2.

- Those who control access to what can be found in the digital world. The search engines – like Google. In China, for example, Google restricts access to information that can be found via the service at the request of the Chinese government. The GOA3.

- Those who control the fees for access to information actually available in the digital world. the GOA4. Free or not is the big argument here. Like the owners of proprietary databases – who sell – or the New York Times online – which is currently free. GOA4.

- Those who decide what information is allowed in the digital world. The GOA5.

and now the GOA6

- Those who decide what information should be allowed in “social utilities,” – modeled as digital countries – like facebook or myspace.

So the question is obviously – Who will Guard the Guardians? Who permits the kind of access described in the GOA1-6? What kind of people?

Arguments are in progress about the GOA1-5, but is the very important discussion about the GOA6 underway? In this particular case, just a few people can control access for hundreds of millions of other. I don’t know but will report back.

amended 6/26/09 struck out mistake.