[ WP ] A user opens a new browser window with access to the Internet of 2024 .

Click. 
 
 `` Damn.'' Another firewall. 
 
 He tried the window again, opening and closing it, but even as the screen brinked bright and purple, announcing that the Chrome browser could access the Internet of 2024, the firewall still nipped him in every bud. 
 
 He went back to Google. That was the same, at least, and familiar. On most days it had the same logo, the same search box, the same options. They'd never fixed what was n't broken, even if the algorithm was miles better. It was St. Patrick's Day, though, and that meant the Google logo was bright green, and in the `` e'' a leprechaun sat back, his arms leaning over the edge, smoking a pipe. 
 
 He entered in another search term. *Think simpler, * he thought. 
 
 `` 2015 in history'' 
 
 Click. 
 
 He laughed. 
 
 Google still linked to Wikipedia in 2024. He clicked to the article with the same title as he had just entered, and sighed again. 
 
 In place of long paragraphs of text there were only citation marks that linked back to government websites not at all relevant to the topic. Half of the article had been swept and censored. All but one sentence of a paragraph was marked with blue bracketed text that simply read `` [ Pending federal authorization ] [ Pending federal authorization ].'' 
 
 There was some information to gleam amongst the censorship. The presidential election of 2016 ramped in 2015, and the Republicans started their debates months earlier than in times past. One sentence read `` Rand Paul [ Pending federal authorization ] [ Pending federal authorization ]'' and he wondered what was even the point of starting the sentence with actual words like `` Rand Paul.'' 
 
 Wikipedia was no good, he realized, so he went back to the Google homepage, the Leprechaun still smiling lazily and laying high above a pot of gold. He entered in a new search term. 
 
 `` history textbook 2015'' 
 
 That led him to Amazon, and a swath of college textbooks priced at thousands of dollars. Kindle format, for some reason, cost even more, as well as Glass format, which cost the most -- one book was going for $ 2,199 in Google Glass. `` Pre-order for Google Retina!'' said one book's page. When he clicked `` reading preview,'' none were available. *I have a browser, but not Google Retina*, he realized. 
 
 Back to square one. Google's home page. 
 
 `` blog summary 2015'' 
 
 Click. 
 
 The Chive. The Chive came first in these results, with a headline that promised `` Top 10 WTF Pictures of 2015.'' 
 
 But when he clicked through, the Firewall came back up. *You have clicked to a sexually explicit website, * it read. *Enter Social Security Number and click'Authorize' for Google Glass retina scan. Enter Credit Card number to pay Indency Tax. * 
 
 Sighing, he clicked back to Google. 
 
 Nothing had worked when searching for 2024. Nor for 2023. He was able to view more and more the further in the past he looked, but the Firewall was still everywhere, along with censorship that seemed to have no simple bypass. 
 
 He typed in `` Google Chrome bypass app'' 
 
 Click. 
 
 Instead he was forwarded to a government website warning him about the dangers of exploring a free and unregulated Internet. It had `` five things you need to know for your own safety'' in bullet points, making claims like `` 99 % of people who visit the unregulated Internet express regret,'' and when he clicked to find the source of that statistic, it went to another government website, which claimed the same thing, linking back to the original article. 
 
 He was going in circles. 
 
 Back to Google. 
 
 `` Presidential Election 2016.'' 
 
 Surely that would yield some information; why censor who was president at the time? Perhaps the man or woman elected was even still president in 2024. That would be something he could share with the world of 2014, he figured. The entire trip to the 2024 Internet could n't be so fruitless. 
 
 The listings came back in an instant. Hillary Clinton had defeated Rand Paul, it seemed, although he did n't have to click through a page to read that; it was simply an answer Google gave him outright. But there was no information to be seen about Hillary's presidency, her vice president, or even her cabinet. All of the other pages were blocked behind government firewalls or censored as Wikipedia's had been censored. 
 
 Thinking quickly, he went to Google Maps. 
 
 Click. 
 
 Streetview was much improved, he saw. He found his hometown and smiled to see a bright sunny day. The cars were much the same, to his disappointment. No robots driving them, no self-driving cars. looked at downtown Manhattan and was surprised to see it out of focus and censored. For his own protection, no doubt. 
 
 He found another city. Where were the self-driving cars? Taxi cabs of the 1990s were everywhere, with manual drivers with hairy arms leaning out the windows. 
 
 On the sidewalks, everyone looked like zombies. They either stood, staring, at the bus stops, or sat on benches and looked out into oblibvion. Everyone wore Google Glass, he realized, and instead of leering down into their headphones they simply sat on bus stop benches and stared out into space like robots. 
 
 That was as much as he could gleam from Google Maps before an AT & T firewall came up. `` You have used your Google Maps time for this month,'' it read. `` Please deposit an additional $ 99.99 to upgrade to the Silver Plan.'' He clicked `` read more.'' `` Upgrade to the Silver Plan and you'll get more ESPN.com, NFL.com, and Google Maps in our special ESPN/NFL/GoogleMaps bundle!'' it shouted excitedly over text. Instead he clicked back to Google. 
 
 `` pirate bay'' 
 
 Clicked. 
 
 `` YOU ARE UNDER ARREST'' shouted the website he was directed to. `` STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND WAIT FOR AUTHORITIES. GOOGLE HAS REPORTED YOU TO THE FBI'' 
 
 That panicked him, so he clicked out of Chrome again. With a sigh, he looked out the train window, happy to be back in 2014. When he brought up a new ( 2014 ) window for browsing, he was glad to use Wikipedia, Drudge Report, and all the rest. 
 
 Except he noticed one headline. 
 
 `` Congress debating new Internet regulations to take effect in 2015.'' 
 
 Half expecting a firewall, he clicked through and read. That headline in 2014 told him more about the future than all of his time in 2024. 
 
 He went to Google again, ready to relish what little freedom he could. 
 
 He typed in a new phrase. 
 
 `` top WTF pictures 2014'' 
 
 When he saw The Chive, he smiled, and went through without a firewall. When the mouse clicked and the website opened, he savored it. That sound. In 2014 he could make that sound loudly and indelicately. So he found a silly picture and made the sound again, and he hoped it still sounded like freedom. 
 
 Click.
