In November 2010, I wrote an op-ed for CorpCounsel.com hypothesizing that Facebook, Google and RIM were more like virtual countries than they were global corporations, capable of exercising powers common to sovereign nations and not private industry.
Facebook, with a citizen population of over 500 million, is now the third largest nation in the world behind China and India. Google's knowledge base, accessible at lightning speed, is larger than anything maintained by any government in history. RIM's Blackberry continues to be the communication choice for international commerce.
If that weren't enough, the personal data and tracking information in the possession and control of these three Internet nations makes the databases of any other nations on Earth look like paperback dictionaries.
The new nations of Facebook, Google and RIM have the power to control who has access, what they can distribute, and what they see. Their populations are without borders, independent, and virtual, something never before experienced.
So far, the global discourse has been balanced and fair. But the line differentiating between balanced and fair and arbitrary and dangerous is a very fine one. Is the tipping point between them on the precipice? Is a global revolution coming? Or has it already begun?
Read the full article "WikiLeaks Lessons: The Party of We - Already in Control" at law.com.