<nettime> a reporter's questions about web nationalism

[Damien Cave <dcave@salon.com>]

i'm a reporter for salon.com and i'm doing a story on bordering
software, which will soon cut into the web's international nature by
limiting the content of participating sites to specific countries.  for
example, icravetv.com had offered webcasts of cable stations across the
globe, but because of a lawsuit, they are now creating software that
will keep their site within national borders.  digital island is also
looking to nationalize content, but for advertisers who want to target
specific markets.  (the financial times -- ft.com -- uses their
software.)

so, given that the software limits users depending on where they are,
i'd like to know what nettime thinks of this: as an international body,
do you find it disturbing -- perhaps reactionary -- that companies are
looking to shrink the web?  or is the larger issue of maintaining the
web as bigger than borders no longer relevant?  by chopping the web into
nation-states, will it have a better chance of catching on?

those are the larger questions, but i'd also like to chat and inquire
about some specifics.  my phone number here in san francisco is
415-645-9274. if you email (dcave@salon.com) your number, i can ring you
back.  and feel free to forward this to anyone (preferably
non-americans) who might have an opinion.

thank you in advance for your time.

best,

Damien Cave

ps - i'd like to get this story done by tomorrow night, so i hope to get
a response before then.  thanks.

#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net