American Internet surfers will soon go the way of Auto Manufactures, Small Farms, Mom and Pop shops and the Dodo, thanks to new laws which will effectively kill the Internet as we know it.A House subcommittee voted 27-4 to allow telecom companies to charge more for speedy delivery, thus ghettoizing the common we once called "the Internet".
"Members from both sides of the aisle endorsed a plan which will permit cable and phone companies to construct 'pay as you surf, pay as you post' toll booths for the Internet," said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy in Washington.
What does this mean to you?
Well, if you watch streaming video, you'll pay more. If you download music, you'll pay more. If you enjoy speedy delivery, you'll pay more. If you can't pay? You don't play.
The Internet is on the verge of becoming the exclusive domain of the wealthy. The digital divide will never be crossed.
But Sonia Arrison, director of technology studies for the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco, dismissed concerns that the proposed bill would lead to a two-tiered Internet."There's plenty of competition,'' Arrison said. "The market will take care of it."
Well good riddance to the riff-raf. Let them eat digital cake. The end of the world as we know it is great for Telecom shareholders.
Largely overlooked in a debate dominated by net neutrality are provisions in the proposed legislation that would allow broadband providers, notably big phone companies, to obtain a national license to deliver television service, and exempt them from having to negotiate with cities for licenses.
Coming soon... megalithic telecom/inet/cable/wireless monsters that dwarf the original Ma Bell. All the telecom you can afford.
Buh-bye Internet, it was nice while it lasted.
Really, think about it. It would slow down the blogsphere if we had to pay a toll every time that we visit blogs and post on them.
Our current internet has allowed a resurgence of democracy in our country. Any person can have a platform and participate in public debate without having to own a newspaper, or a radio or television station. There is no editor acting as a gatekeeper to ideas.
This may be no more.
And the market will not solve access issues. If there is no choice, there is no market. When was the last time that you had a choice on which telephone cables you were going to use? That is right: never.
So it is ridiculous to say that the market will take care of this issue.
We got to start sending letters to Congress to stop this nonsense before it becomes law.
We see congressmen sometimes not putting the public and democracy first. This is one more an example.
Write your congressman.