The New Constitution

cloudhead:

Stowe Boyd is imagining a New Constitution that would transcend borders and unite the internet generation around the world … an Eighth Continent that we could all defect to.

But the truth is, the internet that I want to be a citizen of doesn’t exist yet. Not in places like Egypt where a flick of a switch can disconnect everyone; not in the remote corners of Africa where the infrastructure doesn’t exist, but even more so, not at home.

“Behind every information architecture a power structure lies hidden.”

Our corporately owned internet comes with its own hidden constitution that’s completely out of tune with the spirit of our emerging networked culture. It’s a constitution that supports censorship, concentrates power, and leaves us just as vulnerable to an internet blackout as Egypt.

In fact, the places that lack any modern communication infrastructure are probably better prepared to write the new constitution than we are: They aren’t carrying the political or technical baggage of 20th century broadcast era networks and they don’t have to wrestle with a growing addiction to the HiDef future that the telcos own. They”re ready to embrace a truly free and open network … even if it can’t stream 1080p.

In the 21st century, the network is the law.
Code trumps legislature.
And whoever controls the shape of the network controls the shape of our culture.

When a free and open internet finally emerges it won’t be bound together with words. It’s constitution will be written in code, a universal manifesto woven into the DNA of the network itself.