During and before the years of the industrial age, freedom of speech was a “right” protected by the founding documents of our republic.

During the Information Age, speech is often manifested on “services” provided in accordance with terms of service, community standards, and the discretion of a service provider.  These can include connectivity (public utility), the platforms we distribute our data (Software as a Service — SaaS), and the infrastructure those platforms lease to power it (Infrastructure as a Service — IaaS).

As we transition our humanity to cyberspace, we also transition governance from a freely elected government to the global entities that maintain these platforms and infrastructure.

Will the future lead to an age where end users are governed by a term of service, or will the republic and its free people continue to govern over those entities that maintain the world’s cyberspace?