192). But economic realities, Hiltzik asserts, will eventually win out, as today's telephone customers become more and more used to the new internet telephone technology, and to the much cheaper telephone calling rates that it would allow. Already, Hiltzik adds, telephone companies like ATT are looking ahead by investing in such new internet technology. As all six of the "opposing viewpoint" authors observe, albeit in ways different from one another, internet uses of the future will change communication and commerce practices and individual lives even more than they have done already. One thing that internet technology (or any technology, for that matter) does not, and cannot change, however is human nature. Human beings (of which corporations like Disney and AOL consist) are inclined to be competitive and monopolistic, and for that reason it is my own opinion that, as McChesney argues, corporate entities that already control so much of the entertainment industry will likely capture the digital entertainment and entertainment-related markets as well. I also agree with Dixit, too, that the internet is likely to be dominated, as it is now, by western rather than more diverse kinds of international cultural influences. The customized internet services that Schenker predicts, or closely similar ones, will likely also come into being and enjoy widespread popular use once they are available.

In these ways, then, individuals will indeed become empowered by the internet, as Eastabrook, for example, suggests. However, as Dixit also suggests, not all individuals (and/or groups or companies) will become as empowered as others, or be empowered in the same way as others. Therefore, depending on one's...

For example, when credit card transactions are made over the internet, not only may the transaction itself and the person who makes it not be safe from identity theft, but information about the purchase, and the individual making it, is often then sold to other companies of vario0us kinds, mailing lists, etc. People's personal computers can be hacked into. Computer databases of businesses; non-profit organizations, and even churches are often stolen nowadays, and then used for nefarious purposes, including identity theft. All in all, then, the internet of today and tomorrow is an enticing, even revolutionizing tool of not only convenience, but many other advantages, including educational ones (e.g., online courses). However, human nature also makes the internet, like any other piece of human techno logy, subject to abuses, including manipulation and monopolization of information and other internet-based resources, as well as the implicit (and not so implicit) domination of some, more powerful, cultures of other less powerful ones. Therefore, the future of the internet is a potentially promising and exciting one, but such promise and excitement as offered by the internet in the future is, at best, a mixed blessing, with some individuals and groups more "blessed" than others.