Posted on 02/06/2006 10:06:27 AM PST by gooper
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at thenation.com ...
FreePress has a campaign on this issue here: NetFreedom Now!
OH NO SAY IT AIN'T SO, PING!!
I'd have internet withdrawals, this is for sure.
I smell government imposed "Fairenss Doctrine" brewing for the Internet.
Feudalism.
If a single company attempts this nonsense, its competitors will destroy its market share. If two or more companies collude to do this, the Sherman Antitrust Act, state antitrust laws, etc. will be used to squash them like bugs. Under either scenario, those engaged in the practice are going to find considerable increased costs of doing business thanks the warfare that hackers will unleash on them.
I do not see how they could possibly get away with it.
bump
they can't. Who thinks up this stuff? don't they have some dishes to wash, or something else to do?
Seems like a real threat to me.
I'd cancel my ISP service the second anything like that ever happened.
We'd both have withdrawls buddy.
LOL!!
I posted this on another thread today, its sort of related to the issue.
GOOGLE'S WEB OF SPECULATION
http://www.nypost.com/business/62985.htm
Excerpt:
February 6, 2006 -- Concerns that cable and phone companies want to charge Google and other new media companies for use of their networks are fueling continued speculation that the search giant is looking to build its own Internet.
A report in The Times of London this past Friday cites unnamed sources who claim Google is developing a network of its own that would allow the company to bypass the existing Internet.
Under the plan, people would be able to connect to the Google-owned network with a cheap PC that retails for less than $100, the paper reported.
Rumors that Google is setting up a global network have been around since 2000 when it began buying up miles of previously unused fiber-optic cables and building myriad server farms in New York City and elsewhere.
More recently though, the cable and phone companies have begun making noise about charging not only subscribers for Internet services but also companies — like Google and Yahoo! — that send music, video and other large files over their networks.
Right now, the Internet companies get a free ride, but they could be facing higher costs if phone and cable companies succeed.
Google is notoriously tight-lipped, leaving industry watchers to come up with their own theories about the company's plans for the future.
At least one analyst believes Google may be engaging in the equivalent of digital saber-rattling by toying with the idea of building its own network.
you, me, and a few million other folks.
The fact that someone's not making money off our posting is killing people.
They almost got away with it last time, with regard to media consolidation rules. The only reason they didn't was because grassroots activists like the NRA fought like hell and got congress to act against the FCC.
I figured it was only a matter of time until companies tried this. So many are getting into (or wanting to get into) selling "Voice over IP" telephone service, but they are hampered because the quality of the calls decrease as network/server traffic increases.
Isn't the UN going to take over the internet? That should solve any potential problems.
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