I'd take it a step farther and say that it's not going to be one single key component that will fail, but rather that much like any empire, our modern technological infrastructure is a complex system. Like all complex systems, it will have many small failures that gradually erode the redundancies built into the system. Finally something will break for which no backups exist any longer and the whole system will go down, only to come back up after a while. Gradually it will go down more and more frequently until we cannot keep up with maintenance to any useful degree, then we'll see smaller regional internets for a long while before it eventually becomes a myth of the past glory days.
These internet fiefdoms will be owned most likely by giant monopolistic corporations, much like the old AOL network before it connected to the broader world wide web. Content ownership laws will go even further towards squashing the creativity and organic growth of our culture as these corps gain even greater control than they currently have.
The actual world-wide internet will become a niche relegated to the people willing to hack their way out of the walled gardens and a necessity for tech workers who live outside of the areas serviced by the limited networks.
Dang, now I really want to write a cyberpunk story.
These internet fiefdoms will be owned most likely by giant monopolistic corporations, much like the old AOL network before it connected to the broader world wide web. Content ownership laws will go even further towards squashing the creativity and organic growth of our culture as these corps gain even greater control than they currently have.
The actual world-wide internet will become a niche relegated to the people willing to hack their way out of the walled gardens and a necessity for tech workers who live outside of the areas serviced by the limited networks.
Dang, now I really want to write a cyberpunk story.