ought there would be one global TV
station, CNN. Now there are French, German and Spanish global TV channels.

So the answer to your question is that the "one Web" will split up anyway --
probably into these four components:

1. An internal US/Canadian anglophone Net, with many of the original
characteristics

2. Separate national Nets, with limited outside links

3. A new global Net specifically to link the nets of category 2

4. Possibly a specific EU Net

As you can see, this structure parallels the existing geopolitical structure.
All telecommunications infrastructure has followed similar patterns. (...)

Current EU policy pretends to be neutral in this way, but in fact it is
supporting the growth of English as a contact language in EU communications
policy.

*Interview of July 25, 1999

= What has happened since our 1998 interview?

The nature of the Internet has changed dramatically in the last two years. It is
no longer possible to speak of idealistic social or political effects: the Net
is entirely commercialised. I find this entirely predictable. I have always
described the Internet as a liberal structure, a market of information. It is
logical that it is now commercialised.

It is often said the Internet is now like television. Certainly the content is
determined by market forces and is increasingly split into very large sites with
huge quantities of information. In some ways, these are like television
channels, but the metaphor is not completely accurate.

= How do you see the growth of a multilingual Web?

The future multilingualism of the Net will be determined by market forces. At
present there's no political will to enforce multilingualism. But it is in the
commercial interest of the content providers to have material in local
languages. At least in Europe. For small languages in Africa, there is no market
potential.

= What is your best experience with the Internet?

I have no illusions about the Internet. I can't remember any positive exception
to that.

= And your worst experience?

The worst thing I have seen on the Internet recently is the way thousands of
people added the logo of the Belgrade radio B92 to their websites, without
asking what it was and what politics it represented. In fact it was already
broadcasting from NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) aircraft. The
campaign shows how easy it is to manipulate the new media scene...

FRANCOIS VADROT (Paris)

#Foun