Rewilding the Internet

Most of the infrastructure that powers the internet is now in the hands of a few, mostly US-based, companies. Drawing from ecology research, Maria Farrel and Robin Berjon, writing for Noēma, liken the monopolistic internet infrastructure to a struggling ecosystem that needs to be rewilded.

Rewilding the internet is more than a metaphor. It’s a framework and plan. It gives us fresh eyes for the wicked problem of extraction and control, and new means and allies to fix it. It recognizes that ending internet monopolies isn’t just an intellectual problem. It’s an emotional one. It answers questions like: How do we keep going when the monopolies have more money and power? How do we act collectively when they suborn our community spaces, funding and networks? And how do we communicate to our allies what fixing it will look and feel like?

All this requires tremendous effort, first and foremost from regulators who need to put in guardrails to reign in big tech. Too bad, the incoming administration of the country where most of these companies reside will likely do the opposite and weaken, even remove, antitrust and customer-protection legislation.

The only viable lever is us customers, and were we choose to socialise and host the infrastructure for the things we build. We can vote with our feet and choose to host a website not on AWS, we can use alternative email and calendar providers, and join smaller social networks or even build our own online presence.

Will we, though, in large enough numbers to move the needle?