The Internet isn�t just about porn. Sure�some of it�s quite good but there are other issues here, Cyberdemocracy, the public sphere, Charlie and his amazing naked girapphe throwing stones at a stool - The Internet is full of loads of stuff. Many, many, people and many, many purposes and ideas. The opening up of the medium and it�s increased popularity will inevitably have an influence on democracy, as more information is fed into the public sphere.
As a medium the Internet has some major differences as it is accessed to anyone. Anyone with a computer. There is an argument about the differences between the information rich and the information poor. People without computers or access to them can�t go on the Internet, but it is na�ve to think this will stay the same forever. With the increased convergence between telecommunications, television and computers, households will not be able to keep the Internet at bay for much longer.
As anyone can have a web page this increaces the diversity and choice in the new media fronteer. The rules of censorship will come crashing down and any material can be posted and downloaded, and rarely traced. The Ku Klux Klan have a web site, very soon they could have a TV channel. Feeding their propaganda down the Internet to our televisions. Webcasts will easily sidestep the blockade of censorship and, for better or worse, the public sphere will be vibrant and buzzing with a tune of millions of opinions.
Words only have power when they are read. The brightest idea in the world is no good if it nestles in the head of a coma victim. There are millions of pages out there with only one hit (MrQuilt�s webpage) or a devoted number of fans seeking updates. The concept of masses of people being informed by a single page of web information, even finding the same page and devoting enough time to read it, seems far fetched yet it is the basis of the argument for power to the people. More than likely it will be the corperations that rule the phonelines. It�s na�ve to think that a network of home PCs can rival massive corperations in terms of resources at least.