But technologists, economists and futurists say that some questions are worth asking when thinking about how the Internet economy might evolve over the next few years. The Internet has been embraced by libertarian free-marketers as the embodiment of their values, but, to be sure, it began with government financing. Its money came from the military's largess, and ARPA's leaders spent it pretty much as they pleased with little accountability. For two decades, the Internet was developed gradually in the distinctive milieu of the nation's research centers by scientists who believed in the free sharing of information and in open technology standards. Written by Ira C. Magaziner, a senior White House adviser, the report called for a market-driven Internet.
Government attempts to regulate are likely to be outmoded by the time they are finally enacted.
Today's Internet is a result of a torrid pace of improvement in recent years in computer networks, processing power, data storage, software, display technology and user interfaces like the Web browser. The sheer firepower of computers, experts say, is certain to race ahead to startling effect over the next few years. Data storage technology, for example, is advancing at a particularly rapid rate. By 2003, personal computers may well come with terabyte hard drives, which are roughly 100 times the capacity on new PC's today, featuring about 10 gigabytes on average. A terabyte drive would be able to hold every conversation that even the chattiest person has had in a lifetime.