The End of the Internet?

[Acebass]

The End of the Internet?
by JEFF CHESTER
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester


The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online.

Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency. According to white papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets--corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers--would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out

[Joanne98]

1. OVER OUR DEAD BODIES!

[GoneOffShore]

16. Go here

http://www.commoncause.org/HandsOffMyInternet

[JeffR]

2. Thanks for posting this

Scary stuff.

Let's not forget DU will be going down shortly, for scheduled maintenance.

[Burried News]

7. Great seal of the US

[JeffR]

Thanks

Heh heh.

[Acebass]

8. Just doin my part

:popcorn: we'll be waiting hurry back...

[Burried News]

3. You mean Bill Gates wouldn't put his ass on the line to stop this?

Not hardly.

[skids]

4. My take on this article.

Here:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/2/3/4141/94015

[GoneOffShore]

17. Go here

http://www.commoncause.org/HandsOffMyInternet

And read what some of these corporate yahoos have been saying.

[cornermouse]

5. I think they're trying to exclusively turn it into a business tool

and get all of us riffraff off the net. They probably think it will eliminate or cut back on all of those computer viruses which cost them money. (Us too, but they don't care about us.)

At least, that's my guess.

[JDPriestly]

6. We need to stop them.

We pay our phone bills. We pay our DSL bills. That is enough. This could be a huge political issue that would cross party lines in our favor. My mom is very elderly and on a limited budget and her internet access is a great joy to her. Greedy phone companies should not have the kind of power they have. As long as internet traffic and lines are self-supporting. Why should those companies be entitled to huge profits on their services? They should keep their noses and their grubby fingers and their bill collectors out of the internet business. They should be entitled to reasonable payment for what they provide, a reasonable profit and nothing more.

[GoneOffShore]

14. Go here

http://www.commoncause.org/HandsOffMyInternet

[zalinda]

9. I think that there would be enough mavericks on the net

that would just start another one. We would have to go back to dial-up, but at least it would have free speech.

zalinda

[Acebass]

10. But thats just the sit back and let it happen attitude

There are those who watch things happen
There are those who make things happen
There are those who say "What Happened?"

I'm in the middle...:kick:

No offense meant...

[zalinda]

11. No offense taken, but how much have we changed

in regards to Bush? What have you made happen? No offense meant.......

We nerds are a very independent group. Gates wanted to be the only game in town, and while he is the biggest, he's not the only. We always have a back up plan. So, they may try to take over the net, they won't succeed, because the nerds won't let them. And, if they manage to close the loop, another net will open up.

zalinda

[GoneOffShore]

12. Well despite your assertion

You might want to take a look here http://www.commoncause.org/HandsOffMyInternet
The link lets you email these corporate landgrabbers.

And reported today in the NYT are the plans by AOL and Yahoo to charge businesses for email - bulk email to be sure, but as my ex father in law used to say, "It's the thin edge of the wedge."

Keep the 'net network neutral. It's a public utility and these corporate raiders should not be able to make the land grab.

K&R

[zalinda]

21. Okay, I read this article and I can tell you as a business owner

that if I can get something for free, I'm going to use it. Some big boys may try paying for the emails that get preferential treatment, but if their sales don't go up substantially, they won't pay for it for long.

Hey, I get tons of penis enlargement emails, I haven't yet once ordered anything from them. They could pay $1 an email to get it past my spam box, but I'm still not buying. This goes for Amazon, JC Penney, Microsoft or any other big company, who wants to send me an ad for something that I don't want. If I want to buy something, I go and search for it, that's why paying for search placement makes more sense to a company.

zalinda

[Acebass]

24. plenty...

[Fredda Weinberg]

13. Maybe we'll go back to the libraries

Where we were headed before Clinton & Gore gave our national resource away.

[Silverhair]

15. Won't even happen.

Sorry, but this is alarmist garbage. Every few months there is a new "end of the internet" rumor, claiming that some corporations is going to take it over.

The rest of the world's corporations now depend on the internet being free, and they have the collective power to keep it that way.

The data collection part is correct, but not the rest.

[GoneOffShore]

19. Take a look at the NYT

today with AOL and Yahoo charging for bulk email in the name of 'spam busting'.
And then take a look here
http://www.commoncause.org/HandsOffMyInternet
Common Cause doesn't post things that are rumors.
This is the next big corporate land grab.

[Freedom_Aflaim]

18. The Internet is a Trillion Dollar business

It aint going away.

[GoneOffShore]

20. It ain't going away BUT

you're going to pay more for it if these corporate pirates have their way.

http://www.commoncause.org/HandsOffMyInternet

take a look

[Toucano]

22. I can walk away.

None of this is essential.

[Katherine Brengle]

23. I think they want to do this in part to stop the alternative media empire

that progressive groundtroops have built.

Taking away our easy and cheap access to the internet would basically incapacitate us.

It's also profit-driven, like everything else conservatives and their cronies do.

[cascadiance]

25. Haven't had time to read this yet, but can we stop them in the states?

Perhaps if we get various state legislatures to pass local laws to forbid them from doing this sort of thing. At least in the most populous (and liberal) states like California and New York, so as to keep some ways to prevent the feds from screwing us over. You know... STATES RIGHTS!???