Should the Internet be Free?

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I agree wholeheartedly with the author that government surveillance and control over the Internet is a horrible outcome.  Currently, widespread invasions of privacy are carried out through partnerships between the NSA and private corporations -- so much so that Congress passed a law to provide retroactive immunity for breaking the law to these companies.  These are egregious miscarriages of justice and an area where both sides of this debate have substantial common ground. 

The public airwaves are, without any doubt, owned by the general public, in much the same way as oceans, air, and other commons.  And it is as possible for the government to control the Internet as it would be for it to determine who can swim or breathe -- much as China has attempted to control the flow of information over the Internet, it has had a remarkably hard time doing so. 

That said, civil rights groups and opponents of censorship and surveillance on all sides of the political spectrum must remain constantly vigilant against abuses -- not just by the government, but by corporate entities as well.  In much the same way that current eavesdropping would not have been possible without the active support by corporations, the problem stems from both a lack of accountability of the government (to protect our civil rights) and from a marketplace willing to subjugate our rights to profit margins and market share. 

Since the government already paid for the Internet once -- and chose not to control it, claims to the contrary ignore established historical fact.  In the meantime, privatization, contrary to the author's claims, are not unto themselves an adequate protection of our civil rights.  Both governmental and private actors need to be held accountable -- both forms of control are equally bad -- what's needed in an Internet owned by so many different entities that no one bad player can exert meaningful control over the system.  What's needed is a return to the original ideal of a "network of networks" -- a cooperative, interconnecting, open, global telecom system with so many different stakeholders that it is a de facto "ownerless" communications medium.