Abstract
This paper reviews the argument by critics that the future of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and of the Internet is based primarily on aspects of control, surveillance and global corporate interests, which might be consolidated a form of limitations on human rights. The author disagrees with these critics. Instead, he contends that, although ICTs are revolutionary, it is hard to believe that corporate cooperation or global business interests are capable of consciously directing its future.

From the Paper
"Hrynyshyn enters the discussion with a volley aimed broadside at technological determinism. He also examines the relationships between technology and changes in the political and economic arenas, locking horns with those who blindly accept the direction, progress and inevitability of emerging technologies. Hrynyshyn plainly and quickly sets himself apart from Castells' theoretical framework, rejecting it as a reconstitution of an earlier post-industrial analysis, based in "the illusion of historical inevitability"."

Tags:blackberry, cyberregulator, surveillance, determinism, monopolization