The Internet should be renamed after Janus, that two-faced god of the ancient world. The online world, after all, is a certified “doble cara.”

It promotes competition; yet, it enables the strong to perpetuate their monopolies. The Internet stores information that can help man improve himself and his lot; yet, it purveys data on how to make atomic bombs and other weapons of mass destruction.

The Internet is a tool of democracy; yet, despots use it to keep their peoples in bonds. The Internet keeps everything forever; yet, the Internet has nothing that lasts forever.

GeoCities Says Adieu

GeoCities used to be a cool destination online, especially before it was acquired by Yahoo! Having a Web page on GeoCities was the “in” thing about a decade or two ago. GeoCities users can build their own Web sites touting their causes, ventures, and whatever they would fancy.

The free Web site building service and online community was the Friendster and Facebook of its days. But the coming of the networking sites meant the end for the online community pioneer. Of course, part of the blame (OK, maybe a big part of the blame) should fall on Yahoo’s shoulders.

Although most Internet users would say that the social sites’ networking features, which GeoCities lack, have caused the imminent demise of the latter, as described by the final notice email sent by the GeoCities team.

The letter says, “We’re writing to remind you that Yahoo! GeoCities, our free web site building service and community, is closing on October 26, 2009.”

So, if you happened to be one of the remaining GeoCities site owners, it would do you well to hurry now to your account and download your content before the aforementioned date. After the said date, Yahoo! would start deleting all GeoCities files from the company’s servers.

ICANN Do That

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the California-based nonprofit that manages the Domain Name System and Internet Protocol addresses that serve as the backbone of the Internet. About a couple of weeks ago, ICANN’s Joint Project Agreement with the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration has expired.

Some quarters are expecting to see some changes in the ICANN structure, particularly those concerning accountability and oversight. There also have been calls by other governments on the United States to loosen its grip on the organization.

European leaders, for example, are calling for an ICANN that is truly independent, and fully accountable to the global Internet community.

This clearly illustrates how much the Internet has changed. From a private network for the U.S. government’s DARPA agency, the Internet has become a truly global communications tool. Of course, it logically follows that the group that sits on top of the Internet should also have a more international character.

But how do we determine the composition of an “internationalized” ICANN? Should it be according to the number of Internet users from a particular country? Would it then mean that more Chinese representatives should be sitting in that organization. After all, more Chinese go online than there are American Internet users.

Let’s wait and see.