“As the Internet’s capacity for data transmission increases and multimedia technology improves, it will become as easy to copy music, photos and movies as it is to copy text now… How can government hope to prevent copyright infringement without encroaching upon individual privacy rights? It cannot. Content providers must accept the loss of those customers willing to pirate content and concentrate on packaging their products with enough value added so that wealthier customers remain willing to pay.”
-Steven D. Lavine, predicting the rise of online piracy in The New York Times in March 1996
- Paul Krugman, Leftist genius and Nobel Prize-winning "economist," 1998.
Solely to annoy children like you.
A dial up connection meant downloading a low definition 2 minute video was an exercise in endurance.
The Internet was however much the same as now except there was more competition in search engines, browsers and video sites. Mostly though, it was just slower. Much slower.