Let’s imagine you are walking downtown in any big (U.S.) city. You open your PDA (or cell phone)-based browser and you start browsing the Internet for free. At the same time, the ISP providing you this service is able to locate your position and send you ads for services located in your immediate proximity.
What sounded-like sci-fi a few years ago is now technically possible and might become true in a near future : it’s GoogleNet
What worries me in this story is the ubiquitous need of Google : as of today, a web site that is not referenced by Google does not exist on the web. What if tomorrow Google controls not only the content (or at least the reference to the content) but also the transport stream (what used to be the wires – but what are wires in a wi-fi world ?) ?
Will Google be to the Net what Micosoft is to the software ?
What will be the “open-source” community of Net access ?