Same as it Ever Was
Browsing through Time Magazine’s covers archive is an exercise in deja vu all over again.
Shown above are Internet-related covers from 1993 to 1996. Looking back years later, the memes and themes of our general interest technology reporting remain about the same.
The Internet and those who spend a lot of time on it produces a weird, “other” culture. Porn’s an issue. So too cyberwar. Who controls the Internet? It’s been a question for some time now.
Contemporary equivalents of the above covers?
- Iceland wants to ban online porn.
- It’s looking more and more likely that China’s military is behind a large digital espionage campaign against American infrastructure and corporations.
- Government’s are trying to exert increasing control over the Internet while technology, entertainment companies and service providers do battle over things like Network Neutrality, copyright laws and even what consumers can do with their devices.
- And Internet culture is still weird.
Images: Selected Time Magazine covers, 1993-1996. Select to embiggen.
It seems like it wasn’t long ago that we were discussing Y2K…
