Seven years ago, it was an effort to get people interested in DRM issues. Today, as the internet pulsates with rumour, paranoia and conspiracy, there’s a different kind of problem. This constant background noise – and people’s willingness to jump in fear at their own shadows.

Instead of information scarcity, there’s information overload. So to make sense of this Tower of Babel, people construct a “Daily Me”, establish informal social networks of news sources. These, in turn, tell people how to feel about a news story.

Many bloggers today are attuned to the slightest indication that the Imminent Crackdown has begun. It’s Black Helicopter country: “Net Neutrality” couldn’t have happened without it.

[DRM in 2000 and today: full story at The Register]