07-21-2008, 10:18 PM

from XS:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=195668


Article:
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9627

Death of Free Internet is Imminent
Canada Will Become Test Case

by Kevin Parkinson

July 20, 2008

...

However, when there are potential profits open to a corporation, the needs of society don't count. Take the recent case in Canada with the behemoths, Telus and Rogers rolling out a charge for text messaging without any warning to the public. It was an arrogant and risky move for the telecommunications giants because it backfired. People actually used Internet technology to deliver a loud and clear message to these companies and that was to scrap the extra charge. The people used the power of the Internet against the big boys and the little guys won.


However, the issue of text messaging is just a tiny blip on the radar screens of Telus and another company, Bell Canada, the two largest Internet Service Providers (ISP'S) in Canada. Our country is being used as a test case to drastically change the delivery of Internet service forever. The change will be so radical that it has the potential to send us back to the horse and buggy days of information sharing and access.

In the upcoming weeks watch for a report in Time Magazine that will attempt to smooth over the rough edges of a diabolical plot by Bell Canada and Telus, to begin charging per site fees on most Internet sites. The plan is to convert the Internet into a cable-like system, where customers sign up for specific web sites, and then pay to visit sites beyond a cutoff point.

From my browsing (on the currently free Internet) I have discovered that the 'demise' of the free Internet is slated for 2010 in Canada, and two years later around the world. Canada is seen a good choice to implement such shameful and sinister changes, since Canadians are viewed as being laissez fair, politically uninformed and an easy target. The corporate marauders will iron out the wrinkles in Canada and then spring the new, castrated version of the Internet on the rest of the world, probably with little fanfare, except for some dire warnings about the 'evil' of the Internet (free) and the CEO's spouting about 'safety and security'. These buzzwords usually work pretty well.

What will the Internet look like in Canada in 2010? I suspect that the ISP's will provide a "package" program as companies like Cogeco currently do. Customers will pay for a series of websites as they do now for their television stations. Television stations will be available on-line as part of these packages, which will make the networks happy since they have lost much of the younger market which are surfing and chatting on their computers in the evening. However, as is the case with cable television now, if you choose something that is not part of the package, you know what happens. You pay extra.

And this is where the Internet (free) as we know it will suffer almost immediate, economic strangulation. Thousands and thousands of Internet sites will not be part of the package so users will have to pay extra to visit those sites! In just an hour or two it is possible to easily visit 20-30 sites or more while looking for information. Just imagine how high these costs will be.

At present, the world condemns China because that country restricts certain websites. "They are undemocratic; they are removing people's freedom; they don't respect individual rights; they are censoring information,” are some of the comments we hear. But what Bell Canada and Telus have planned for Canadians is much worse than that. They are planning the death of the Internet (free) as we know it, and I expect they'll be hardly a whimper from Canadians. It's all part of the corporate plan for a New World Order and virtually a masterstroke that will lead to the creation of billions and billions of dollars of corporate profit at the expense of the working and middle classes.

There are so many other implications as a result of these changes, far too many to elaborate on here. Be aware that we will all lose our privacy because all websites will be tracked as part of the billing procedure, and we will be literally cut off from 90% of the information that we can access today. The little guys on the Net will fall likes flies; Bloggers and small website operators will die a quick death because people will not pay to go to their sites and read their pages.

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07-21-2008, 10:45 PM

Hate to say it, but this has been rumored now for over a decade. I'll believe it when it happens.

07-22-2008, 12:28 AM

Very true, but if some ISP, considering Bell being a massive ISP in toronto, if they are actually doing this, it is more then the rumors i have heard... but as you say, if they actually do it..... i guess we shall wait and see

07-22-2008, 01:39 AM

I really can't see this ever happening realistically. All because of free enterprise.

Should company A use this system, people will naturally be a bit miffed. So should company B offer customers unrestricted access, people will subscribe to company B's service, pretty much destroying company A. So unless you can somehow find a way to legally impose this new system, or unless every internet company in the world supports this (which I'm sure would raise all kinds of issues with monopoly worries, price fixing, etc.), I don't see it happening any time soon.

07-22-2008, 10:52 AM

A very sensationalistic article with little substance.

07-22-2008, 11:23 AM

I read the article and understand all the points said there. But I don't see using the internet as a free service now. I pay my ISP my monthly fee for that privilege. But yeah I don't like the fact the article is saying big brother will come to the internet too.

Well TV. Here in Aus there are a number of free tv stations. Once a TV is purchased, it's free (apart from electricity costs) to watch them. But cause it's free, you only get what each channel gives you to watch. But the net, cause it's not really a free service, we should be able to look at what we want to. And secondly, it's a medium in which many people get information across. But under this new idea if the government doesn't like a site for example cause it tells of their wrong doings, then it's banned. That goes against the idea of general freedom of speech which most countries believe in.

So I'm against the idea.

07-25-2008, 09:04 AM

the day this happens is the day i cancel my internet!

07-25-2008, 09:14 AM

Internet connections are free in Canada (At the moment)?

07-26-2008, 04:45 PM

The only thing I could see happening is a lot more pay sites for news, sports, etc

07-26-2008, 10:59 PM

FUD and nothing more!

07-27-2008, 03:10 PM

they haven't even tied down usenet so far.

i doubt this could work, at least in a market with even a little competition.