capitalism

252 Internet
information that is available on it so they can guide their
visitors to the subjects that interest them. Other uses of the
Internet, such as peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, allow
users to trade files directly among one another, disseminating
information and entertainment quickly and cheaply. All
of these things contribute to the wealth of ideas available to
people and help empower individuals to improve their
political and economic lives.
The Internet also is increasingly used for commerce.
Many Web sites sell goods or services or carry advertising
that supports their operations. This commercial activity has
restructured economic life in several respects. Internet
retailers like Amazon.com, for example, give consumers
access to a huge variety of goods that no physical retailer
can match. This phenomenon has increased the value of
publishers’ and artists’ “back catalogs.” Past publications
and artworks, no longer found in retail stores or similar outlets,
can often still be purchased online, which has given
rise to the concept of “the long tail”—the long, diverse list
of “unpopular” works and items that make up an increasingly
significant part of society’s consumption.
Online marketplaces like eBay also have wrung inefficiencies
out of the economy. Millions of items that consumers
want, out of season or out of stock in any particular
store, may be found and purchased online. Millions of
items once destined for the trash have found their way to
consumers who want them, at low cost to discover and buy.
Many specialty markets and stores have cropped up online
to give more people access to things they want. A large
number of people supplement their incomes or support
themselves entirely by selling online.
By freeing people to create their own business enterprises,
the Internet is improving the quality of life for millions
of people. This dynamic is fostered somewhat in the
United States by the rules with regard to taxation of goods
sold in remote commerce. Under “dormant Commerce
Clause” analysis, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that
remote sellers of goods cannot be made responsible for the
collection of taxes for the jurisdiction to which the goods
are being sent. Thus, many sellers of goods online do not
have to collect and remit taxes to the governmental jurisdictions
where the purchasers live, relieving sellers of a significant
regulatory burden. This restriction is a challenge to
jurisdictions that would put sales tax collection burdens on
sellers outside their states. But it is just one of many challenges
that the benefits of the Internet create for a number
of institutions and interests.
Beyond taxation, the robust communication enabled by
the Internet represents a threat to governments in a variety
of ways. Autocratic governments are menaced by the
potential that the Internet may be used by political organizations
aimed at seeking reform, which could topple existing
regimes. China is the world’s most notorious Internet
monitor and censor. Its combined efforts to contain the
power of the Internet have been called “the Great Firewall
of China,” although it is far from the only country to control
Internet communications or use the Internet as a tool of
political and social control.
The Internet also can be used for criminal planning and
criminal deeds, and for such things as terrorism planning
and promotion. The U.S. government has reportedly been
aggressive in monitoring communications in the conduct
of its “War on Terror.” IP networks make data easy to collect,
store, and analyze compared with the analog information
on circuit-switched networks of the past. More
information than ever is available to law enforcement and
national security interests in the United States and around
the world because of the Internet and digital communications,
although some rarely used methods of encryption
and routing can protect information from interception and
collection.
In many ways, the Internet is like a giant copying
machine, reproducing information time and time again as
it flows from computer to computer. Many uses of the
Internet challenge or violate copyright law, which vests the
authors of creative works with rights to control the copying,
and thus dissemination and use, of their works. Peerto-peer
file-sharing networks, for example, transfer a good
deal of popular copyrighted material in violation of copyright
law. The content industry, chiefly the recording and
movie industries, have aggressively sought to stem the
flow of their copyrighted content across the Internet. The
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, passed in 1998, sought
in various ways to limit the accessibility of copyrighted
content online.
New business models in traditionally copyright-oriented
sectors have begun to emerge, accommodating the difficulty
of enforcing copyrights online. “Open source” software
development, for example, makes a unique use of
copyright law: Rather than controlling the making of successive
copies, this model makes software available for
copying and use subject to the caveat that any further copy
or derivative work also be available for copying and use
under the same terms. Creators in traditionally copyrightreliant
industries are exploring business model options that
allow them to profit from goods that are complementary to
the expressive works they produce, instead of trying to
profit directly from copyright control.
The Internet and online culture challenge individual
customs and expectations, such as privacy, as well. Just
as it carries copyrighted content, the Internet and Internetconnected
computers prolifically create and distribute personal
information about their users. Analog formats for
communication of the past, such as printing on paper, naturally
made information difficult to copy, transmit, and store.
Societal expectations about privacy evolved consistent with
that. The data collection and copying done by the Internet
threaten the privacy expectations of older generations while