In a world where we pay to watch TV, listen to music or play computer games we shouldn't be surprised that now the major internet providers want to make us pay for viewing each and every site we visit.
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Internet providers have realized that the only way to not lose massive amounts of customers over this is to make sure there are no alternatives, that's why all major Internet providers are currently making agreements and planning to switch simultaneously somewhere in the year 2012. This is currently all going on under very strict NDA's (Non-Disclosure Agreements) because the last thing they want is the masses speaking out against it.
Just look at those prices. To view this or any other blog, myspace, youtube would cost a person almost $50.00 a month. In effect they, the internet providers, would censor what you can or cannot view. If they cannot stop a person legally, they will stop them by monetary means.
Net neutrality has been a much debated issue for several years now and there have been many lawsuits in cases where an Internet provider blocked access to a certain competitor's site or simply crippled download speeds on services that they felt were using up too much of their bandwidth. But this new information that has now been confirmed by inside sources from major ISP's and content providers gives us a far bleaker vision of what the future of Internet freedom will look like if we don't take action in every way we can.
Can you imagine a time in the near future where you cannot play World of Warcraft without paying an extra $50.00 a month. Where you cannot access a news site without paying extra? Where you cannot chat in a chatroom, IM a friend or even access your email without paying extra? Get used to it. For that will be the way of the future.
Already AP is suing bloggers for using their articles to write posts. Once an idea is out in cyberspace, it is a free idea to use. Unless you can provide pure copywrite law to it. And even then it is hard to prove when you link back to the full article or quote just a short paragraph.
This is happening now. In some places a trial experiment is being conducted to see if this idea will work.
Why is this happening? The entire media and marketing industry is losing its grip on the upcoming generations of Internet-minded consumers. Statistics show that traditional media is losing popularity as the Internet continues to grow drastically every year. And the Internet is a completely different place: consumers aren't passive any more and advertisements don't have the same psychological effect they normally have on television. Internet users are very active and focused: they only go to the sites and services they want, and with an infinite amount of alternatives, users simply switch to something else if one service becomes too commercialized with annoying advertisements. With this in mind, it's no surprise that the past 6 years the industry has secretly been planning a 'take-over' to secure the Internet as a purely commercial playground.
We can stop this before it is too late! It is up to each and every one of us to spread the word and keep the internet a free place. We need to make our elected officials aware of this and to make certain in no uncertain words that WE WILL NOT GO ALONG WITH THIS! WE WANT OUR INTERNET TO BE FREE FOR ALL TO USE! THAT THE LITTLE PERSON SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR WHAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN FREE!
It is our internet. It should always be free!
