The Internet: Al Gore Invented It, Could In-Car Telematics Kill It?

Making the buzz today is a new book called The Future of the Internet: And How To Stop It. The book’s author, Jonathan Zittrain, claims that the very thing that makes the Internet such a success is being shut down by a new wave of closed devices like the iPhone, Xbox, TiVo and in-car telematics like OnStar. Zittrain, cofounder of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, claims the Internet's ability to serve as an open platform for innovation is being undermined by these "tethered" devices that can't be easily modified by anyone except those “authorized” to do so.

In particular reference to OnStar, Zittrain cited a 2003 case where the FBI tried to require that a car’s telematics system be turned into a roving bug to monitor people that the FBI was interested in. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the FBI is not legally entitled to remotely activate the system and secretly use it to snoop on passengers, because doing so would render it inoperable during an emergency.

Zittrain certainly does have an interesting take on things. For example, Zittrain believes that Steve Jobs and his band of seemingly free thinkers are actually far more restrictive and proprietary than someone like Bill Gates and Microsoft. If you asked most folks on the street, they’d probably believe that the opposite is true.

sources: bbc news and newsweek