Sparx said:so long as i can play the banjo, i will learn its raining men if thats suits you
Ehrmmmm... dude I just tried to explain I'm not gay, and off all the songs in the world you pick *that* one
Sparx said:so long as i can play the banjo, i will learn its raining men if thats suits you
Calaen said:if it gets that bad people just wont use it and companies that do will suffer, the government will understand this
Joor said:William L. Smith, chief technology officer for Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp.
Joor said:A little update.
How does this threat to Internet freedom affect you?
Google users—Another search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine opens faster than Google on your computer.
Innovators with the "next big idea"—Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for dominant placing on the Web. The little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable to compete.
Ipod listeners—A company like Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned.
Political groups—Political organizing could be slowed by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay "protection money" for their websites and online features to work correctly.
Nonprofits—A charity's website could open at snail-speed, and online contributions could grind to a halt, if nonprofits can't pay dominant Internet providers for access to "the fast lane" of Internet service.
Online purchasers—Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower prices—distorting your choice as a consumer.
Small businesses and tele-commuters—When Internet companies like AT&T favor their own services, you won't be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your office.
Parents and retirees—Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc.
Bloggers—Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips—silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets.
Blocking Innovation
The threat to an open internet isn't just speculation -- we've seen what happens when the Internet's gatekeepers get too much control. These companies, even, have said as much about their plans to discriminate online. According to the Washington Post:
"William L. Smith, chief technology officer for Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp., told reporters and analysts that an Internet service provider such as his firm should be able, for example, to charge Yahoo Inc. for the opportunity to have its search site load faster than that of Google Inc."
Such corporate control of the Web would reduce your choices and stifle the spread of innovative and independent ideas that we've come to expect online. It would throw the digital revolution into reverse. Internet gatekeepers are already discriminating against Web sites and services they don't like:
In 2004, North Carolina ISP Madison River blocked their DSL customers from using any rival Web-based phone service.
In 2005, Canada's telephone giant Telus blocked customers from visiting a Web site sympathetic to the Telecommunications Workers Union during a contentious labor dispute.
Shaw, a major Canadian cable, internet, and telephone service company, intentionally downgrades the "quality and reliability" of competing Internet-phone services that their customers might choose -- driving customers to their own phone services not through better services, but by rigging the marketplace.
In April, Time Warner's AOL blocked all emails that mentioned www.dearaol.com -- an advocacy campaign opposing the company's pay-to-send e-mail scheme.
This is just the beginning. Cable and telco giants want to eliminate the Internet's open road in favor of a tollway that protects their status quo while stifling new ideas and innovation. If they get their way, they'll shut down the free flow of information and dictate how you use the Internet.
Sparx said:Not everyone will bow down and take it up the arse
Gamah said:Vladamir will!
Gamah said:Vladamir will!
Marc said:im pretty sure none of this will happen and even if it does, its not gonna effect me is it? Only websites I visit are FH www.rlfans.com and www.redvee.net
Joor said:haha they just released this clip today, such an assault to everyone of us.. can you see a Plane. i cant
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,195702,00.html
Benedictine said:Remember when we didn't have the internet? I do and it wasn't so bad. Books, newspapers etc as you say. People actually talking IRL - doom!
Though pre-internet we didn't have freedom of speech - all media was controlled by 'deep throats' ...... ok right.
Calaen said:I am just very happy in my life at the moment, why should I waste my time being concerened over something that does not exist. I might aswell start getting upset over the day I die its all bullshit.
Calaen said:I totally agree with Ravens post, i would rather legitimate companies pay money to offer me services rather than the shite that is on the net at the moment.
Raven said:tbh i couldnt care less if internet2 "the revenge" (or whatever) filters out all the crap on the internet, i really dont care about some geeks blog about his fly collection, or real teen babes!!!11! If i search for something i want to find it, if i want to buy something i want to buy it from a reputable company, i am not interested in being the millionth customer or chosen at random by some spyware riddled shitsite. give internet2 where only real companies and orgisations can have URLs. everyone else can fucking burn.
(yes fed up of the current trash filled internet)
[NO]Subedai said:the most free place on earth right now? prolly mongolia and the outback of China, ironic given the communit influence there.