Over the many years I’ve been creating content online, one of the common themes in my writing and podcasting has been about the need for an “open internet” that allows for “distributed and decentralized” services.  In recent years, I’ve been concerned by a return to “walled gardens” like Facebook and Twitter where the service is in the control of a single entity, usually a company.  On this page I’ve gathered some of my best writing on the topic across my various blogs:

• The Super Simple Secret to Stopping Online Piracy (Hint: It’s not SOPA)
  January 2012, Disruptive Conversations
• The US Congress, PROTECT IP, SOPA, E-PARASITES… and the War For the Open Internet
  November 2011, Disruptive Telephony
• 3 Whitepapers You Need To Read To Understand How SOPA Could Damage DNS And Decrease Security
  November 2011, Disruptive Telephony
• Ch-changes – Taking A New Job At The Internet Society To Join The Fight For The Open Internet
  September 2011, Disruptive Telephony (about my job change, but also a lengthy piece on my view into the challenges the Internet faces today)
• Why The “Nym Wars” Matter – Preserving Pseudonymity On An Open Internet
  August 2011, Disruptive Conversations
• On The Importance of Aggregating The Digital Content We Post In Walled Gardens
  September 2011, Disruptive Conversations
• Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and the Return of the Walled Gardens of E-Mail
  May 2007, Disruptive Conversations
• Of DDoSs and SPOFs: How Twitter and Facebook violate “The Internet Way”
  September 2009, Speaking of Standards
• The Facebook/Burson-Marsteller Debacle, Google – and the World War For (Our) Information
  May 2011, Disruptive Conversations
• The 2 Big, Glaring Failures of the “Voice 3.0” Manifesto
  June 2011, Disruptive Telephony
• The iPad Paradox: A Completely Closed System Promoting Open Standards
  April 2010, Speaking of Standards
• The real meaning – and power – of identi.ca (a.k.a. open source Twitter)
  July 2008, Disruptive Conversations
• Skype and SIP interop – the two sides of the issue
  September 2008, Disruptive Telephony
• Do the IM protocol wars even matter? Adium and the continued *client* unification of IM…
  September 2008, Disruptive Telephony
• Skype says “No” to VoIP interoperability – *because customers aren’t asking for it!* – Well, I am!
  January 2008, Disruptive Telephony
• Ning’s Phase-Out of Free Services – Smart Business Move? Or Utter Betrayal?
  April 2010, Disruptive Conversations
• Twitter’s SPOF Stupidity Continues: Ever hear of redundancy?
  July 2009, Disruptive Conversations
• THE CLOUD MUST BE OPEN! Voxeo Announces Tropo: The Open Source Cloud Telephony Service
  July 2009, Voxeo Talks (obviously about a specific service, but making the point)

Many posts on this topic can also be found in the “Walled Gardens” category of my Disruptive Conversations blog.

I will add more posts here over time – and if you read any of my blogs, follow me on Twitter, subscribe to my email newsletter or see any of my presentations, you will undoubtedly hear this theme coming through. I’m just a wee bit passionate about it 😉