The Internet is a mere twenty years old. There are only a handful of examples for technology that has appealed to such a broad range of people in such short time and is still being actively used. Current innovations in media and communication permeate societies worldwide and bring change that is often not comprehended by human beings. This global networking not only brings people closer together, but also changes their communicational behaviour - not always for the better.

"Permanent access!", "Mobile and unlimited!" - such slogans made up by phone and internet companies have been heard and read over and over again. Smartphones are given away for "free" and the "real apps" come pre-installed. With these tools, more than 750 million people can share everything with everyone and suddenly become "friends". Names, locations, adressbooks and pictures are delivered to US advertisment cooperations without blinking an eye. Privacy? Anonymity in the world wide web? The CEOs of said cooperations find these things to be outdated and believe they should be abolished.

Even the interfaces through which the entire internet trafficing is monitored, have been established with the help of western technology companies for a long time - not only in countries that have less than freedom of speach than we are accustomed to: Iran, China, Egypt, Lybia and Syria are only a few examples of countries that actively practice censorship. In Europe, actions like "retention" and "network lockdowns", meaning drastic interference in individual privacy, are being considered.

Through the worldwide cooperation of software devolpers and hardware manufacturers in the field of free software, however, many exciting new technologies are emerging on the horizon of the early 21st the century. There is a "window of opportunity" that should be exploited and utilized.