Re:IT is something BOTH can use and want to. OUCH! (Score 2)

While I'm not intent on using Slashdot as an outlet for misanthropy, "crovira" has the crux of the matter in range...he just didn't pull the trigger. Carr's analysis itself contains a fatal error--in the United States, there is no substantive difference between "government control" and "corporate control." Both serve a distant, occupying elite which are not accountable to the majority. Appealing to the regulation of either is not productive. Indeed, you can control corporations by "voting with your dollars"....but this inherently gives the wealthy a huge advantage if these corporations are influencing public behavior. Further, the same wealthy elite use the power of media outlets to discredit the democratic process, thus disillusioning the citizenry and making the vote a tool of yet another elite. Finally, the elite and their corporate servitors close the loop by blatantly bribing government officials at all levels of government...this is usually called "soft money contributions," but it's just a polite term for bribery. If Carr is correct, the first step would have to be to make government more accountable to the people. But, the kinds of social changes required to make that happen would obviate the need for government intervention in the realm of information technology. Carr's article concerns an illusory problem--a problem that is a reflection of the true problem, which is that the world is largely controlled by a corporate oligarchy. The Orwell analogies are good, but the best analogy is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.