Coming To Terms
The Pew Internet & American Life Project is reporting [pdf] that most people in America are dim on what podcasting and phishing are, and what RSS feeds do.
This is not a moment for the technical elite to be snarky. This is a moment for the technical elite to worry. If only spam and cookies and viruses have inserted themselves into the public lexicon, internet policy in America is in trouble. Who cares about protecting the net if all it brings is darkness and despair (read: spam)? Let's lock it down and make it safe. Sure, some kid told me that there are amazing something-casts out there that are fun to listen to, but this is a maturing network and someone needs to be in charge.
The game at this point is shaping consumer expectations. This was the same game played for the broadcast flag. If consumers don't expect to be able to transmit digital files freely, they won't mind having their devices crippled and their favorite songs locked to their kitchen table (metaphorically speaking).
Same thing here. If consumers are used to sending email and taking in information, but aren't used to creating their own stuff in ways that directly challenge existing media sources (podcasts) or shaping their own information filters (RSS), they won't mind when the net ceases to be as freely accessible or as interesting as it used to be. The telcos and the cable guys would like to see the internet become just another proprietary, secure network over which they deliver video and data and approved applications. Heck, law enforcement wouldn't mind this outcome either.
Internet self defense is going to take educating and involving all the people who don't know (and don't yet care) about the amazing things the net can facilitate. Rather than despairing about what the Pew study shows, play a podcast for a friend. And explain phishing.