When something online is free, you're not the customer, you're the product.

The Internets distinct configuration may have made cyberattacks easy to launch, but it has also kindled the flame of freedom.

Digital books and other texts are increasingly coming under the control of distributors and other gatekeepers rather than readers and libraries.

If you entrust your data to others, they can let you down or outright betray you.

If what you are getting online is for free, you are not the customer, you are the product.

It's hard to try to be a canary in the coal mine in Internet because right now we're enjoying such innovation. But at the same time, we are truly in the midst of a sea change in how controllable the technology we use day by day is, and it is getting more and more controllable by a distinct group of entities, who may have our best interests in mind, at least at consumers right now, but they can change their minds or be regulated, forced to change their minds later.

The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful.