

Ask HN: How do you conceptualize the internet? - vicbrooker

I&#x27;m currently sitting in a class discussion at my university discussing the relationship between the internet and privacy&#x2F;IP law.<p>Everyone here are law students and the most common view of the internet as a physical place - the lecturer recently wrote an article asking whether the internet should be seen as a meadow or a series of rooms.<p>My answer is neither. I don&#x27;t think that using physical metaphors are going to accurately represent what the internet is and how it works. I think it&#x27;s actually a bit dangerous once we start making laws off this assumption too.<p>So my question is, how do you all see the internet? What&#x27;s the fairest way to conceptualise data, how it&#x27;s made and who can use it?<p>I can&#x27;t help but think that asking here is going to be better than asking the law faculty :-&#x2F;<p>TL;DR: How should we think of the internet? Should it be treated as a physical &#x27;place&#x27; or is this wrong? How do we explain it to people without a tech background (lawyers, young children etc.)?
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terrykohla
I think that seeing it as a physical place helps conceptualize a virtual
world.

I'm neither a programmer or a developer.

When I go online, it's like I'm out on the street. I'm exposed to others. I
can interact with others. I can walk into a shop or a bank and conduct
business. I can walk into a theater or an arcade. I can walk into someone's
place, an open house or a private house. But it's not physical, it's all
virtual, it's all built with code, data and information.

