The End of the Internet?

The Nation ^ | Wed Feb 1, 2006 | Jeff Chester

[MNJohnnie]

Amazing. How utterly rabibly stupid. This article is SO divorced from even a noding reality with truth I am surprised anyone wasted time on it

[George Smiley]

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.

Does the name GOOGLE ring a bell?

[rattrap]

read later

[UseYourHead]

Oh no, they are going to force everyone to us AOL!!!

[auboy]

Rag should change name to The Notion.

[thecabal]

As Ed Whitacre, chairman and CEO of AT&T, told Business Week in November, "Why should they be allowed to use my pipes? The Internet can't be free in that sense, because we and the cable companies have made an investment, and for a Google or Yahoo! or Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes [for] free is nuts!"

Gee, and here I thought that all the money I'm paying for broadband access and web hosting is covering these costs. Apparently I'm just a bandwidth leech. Poor AT&T, getting robbed blind.

[ShadowAce]

See this thread also

[G.Mason]

"This article is SO divorced from even a noding reality with truth I am surprised anyone wasted time on it"

Yep. I got fed into the blender also. ;)

[Richard Kimball]

Bump for later. Thanks for the post.

[auboy]

I guess our refund checks are in the mail. Since it's free.

[aculeus]

The Nation said ... Alger Hiss was framed, KLA flight 700 was spying for the CIA, and the Internet will be privatized.

[Element187]

No politician would ever go along with this... instant political death.

[JudgemAll]

Well, then that would mean they violated dumping laws through a loophole if they wanted those cables to be payable in the first place. tsk tsk.

first they take competitors out by floating worthless stocks and putting free cables, and once they're asserted, they decide to start raking in fees.

This is not the worst part: expect lawyers to step in and defend only after extortive fees, or even let evil roam around and expect terrorists or offshoring terrorism take over America so as to cause a mess and make us all feel guilty, ready for A SECOND NEW "DEAL" ECON SOCIAL UNREST CRASH.

NEW DEAL 2.0: Lawyer mess and guilt of selfdefending yields disarmament and gov takeover of everything. How convenient.

[longshadow]

One need read no further than the first sentence:

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....

[emphasis added]

"Free internet?" What planet are these people from? Virtually everyone I know pays a monthly fee for internet access/e-mail, etc.

This article reads like some sort of Marxist fright film test script, trying to scare the reader with the specter of (oh; the horror!) an unfettered free telecommunications market. (GASP!)

[lilylangtree]

Dang!

[advance_copy]

Industry planners are mulling new subscription plans that would further limit the online experience, establishing "platinum," "gold" and "silver" levels of Internet access that would set limits on the number of downloads, media streams or even e-mail messages that could be sent or received.

No different than the old usage based charges (i.e. time connected in minutes of use). That worked for a while, until other providers came along and offered unlimited service. Competition is key.

[Xenalyte]

Actually, this is the end of the Internet.

[HAL9000]

As Ed Whitacre, chairman and CEO of AT&T, told Business Week in November, "Why should they be allowed to use my pipes?...

Because Ed's "pipes" are running through my private property. I should have the right to charge AT&T rent or cut the wires. Everyone who is giving AT&T free use of their property should have that right too.