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Talking about the internet in utopian terms does make it easier to pull one over on the rubes, as all the startups who are going to Change The World know well. It's not obvious to me that that's worse than thinking in purely utilitarian terms though, because then all you care about is what you can get out of it for your employer, and everyone whose interests aren't in line with those of tech companies and governments get screwed. Which happens anyway, but at least we feel bad about it.