十五年前的第一轮互联网热潮有点像一场宗教运动。无所不在的网络先知们,预言将有一个数字天国,在那里不仅商业通畅无阻,经济呈指数型增长,民主直接降临,国家消亡。尽管这一切就如幺像,却非常准确地反映了网络在线的现实。互联网是一个开放的新境界。第一次,一个人可以用电子的方式和任何其他人沟通,不仅是全球性的而且免费。任何人可以建立一个网站或在线商店,这个站点又可以由世界上的任何地方登录,仅仅使用一个叫浏览器的软件,还无须获得任何人的准许。政府或大公司对信息,观点和商业的控制就此成为过去。关于“网路空间”的崇高演讲已经历经改变。甚至这一名词如今都已过时。今天另外一个被滥用的天上的隐喻占据了主导地位:“云端”是对计算机集合仓库亦即数据中心生成的,再通过互联网发布的各种数字服务的称呼。可是大部分 The first Internet boom fifteen years ago was a bit like a religious movement. The omnipresent internet prophets foretell a digital heaven where not only is business unobstructed, the economy grows exponentially, democracy comes directly, and the country dies. Although all this is like a mere image, it accurately reflects the reality of online presence. The Internet is an open new realm. For the first time, a person can communicate with anyone else electronically, not only globally but also for free. Anyone can set up a website or an online store, which in turn can be accessed from anywhere in the world, using only software called a browser, without anyone’s permission. Control of information, opinion, and commerce by the government or large corporations has thus become a thing of the past. The lofty speeches about “cyberspace ” have been changed. Even this term is now out of date. Another metaphor of abusive heaven today dominates: Cloud is the name for various digital services that are generated by a collection of computers, or data centers, and distributed over the Internet. But most