[kypro]

I often wonder what Aaron would think of the internet today.

For those here who are younger there was a very a different culture online in the mid-00s. It was very optimistic about how access to data and global communication could create a better world – The Arab Spring being one of the best examples.

This was even a view largely shared by Western governments and "The great firewall of China" was ridiculed by almost everyone at the time.

Today it feels like very few of us still believe in Aaron's vision of an open internet anymore. As someone who is around the same age as Aaron and shared his optimism, it's been hard to watch the internet become an increasingly closed, restricted and regulated place in recent years.

I understand that most people disagree with me on that which is fine, but it's also why I'd love to hear Aaron's take on it – did we just get it wrong? Is the internet today with all its bad actors, AI bots and big tech algorithms fundamentally a different place than it was back then? Would Aaron still view open access to data the same? How would he feel about tech companies scrapping the web to build AI models for their own financial gain?