you presume too much intelligence and forethought to 'the existing power structures'. using your rationale, the technologies of the internet and mobile communication technologies never would have fallen into the hands of the masses for the same reasons you've cited. truth is, the 'regimes' aren't that smart. and even the brightest minds in the world did not predict the full scope of the social, cultural and political changes enabled by our current technologies. i think there are many more big societal shifts yet to come from emerging technologies...and politicians will be powerless to stop or control them, primarily because they won't see them coming until it's too late to reverse. what politician (or anyone else for that matter) accurately envisioned today's interconnected landscape when prodigy's dial up service first rolled out?

I don't think it's being offered as 'free'...it's being made freely available on his website and hopefully people will pay up voluntarily.