matrixshaman
Flashlight Enthusiast
My wife found this and as far as I can see it's not one of the 'urban legend' phony emails. This could be very very bad news although I have a hard time seeing this happening in the U.S. with some of the real big companies it would effect like Microsoft, Google, Yahoo etc. There would be much less demand for their products if this goes down. What do you think? Is this the future of the Internet?
"*Canadian ISPs Plan Net Censorship*
Concerns grow that Canada's plan will wipeout alt news sites and spread
to U.S.
By Mike Finch
A net-neutrality activist group has uncovered plans for the demise of
the free Internet by 2010 in Canada. By 2012, the group says, the trend
will be global.
Bell Canada and TELUS, Canada's two largest Internet service providers
(ISPs), will begin charging per-site fees on most Internet sites,
reports anonymous sources within TELUS.
It's beyond censorship, it is killing the biggest ecosystem of free
expression and freedom of speech that has ever existed. I Power
spokesperson Reese Leysen said. I Power was the first group to report
on the possible changes.
Bell Canada has not returned calls or emails.
The plans made by the large telecom businesses would change the Internet
into a cable-like system, where customers sign up for specific web
sites, and must pay to see each individual site beyond a certain point.
Subscription browsing would be limited, extra fees would be applied to
access out-of-network sites. Many sites would be blocked altogether.
We had inside sources from bigger companies who gave us the information
on how exclusivity deals are being made at this moment between ISPs and
big content providers (like TV production studios and major video game
publishers) to decide which web sites will be in the standard
packageoffered to their customers, leaving all the rest of the Internet
unreachable unless you pay extra subscription fees per every
non-standard site you visit,Leysen said.
We knew the source to be 100% reliable, but we also knew the story would
be highly controversial if we released the information. We did it
because we knew that we get more official confirmations once we come
forward with it. And indeed that is what happened. Dylan Pattyn, who is
writing the soon-to-be published article for Time Magazine, received
confirmation from sources within Bell Canada and TELUS after we released
the information.
The plans would in effect be economic censorship, with only the top 100
to 200 sites making the cut in the initial subscription package. Such
plans would likely favor major news outlets and suppress smaller news
outlets, as the major news outlets would be free (with subscription) ,
and alternative news outlets, like AFP, would incur a fee for every
visit.
The Internet will become a playground for billion-dollar content
providers just like television is, said Leysen. It won'tbe possible like
E-bay that then grows out to be the next big thing anymore.
Right now the Internet belongs to those with the greatest ideas. In the
future, it'll belong to those with the biggest budgets.
With plans in Canada uncovered, I Power thinks that companies in the
United States and other nations are also planning similar actions.
By 2012 ISPs all over the globe will reduce Internet access to a TV-like
subscription model, only offering access to a small standard amount of
commercial sites and require extra fees for every other site you visit.
These other sites would then lose all their exposure and eventually shut
down, resulting in what could be seen as the end of the Internet,
Leysen said.
Such a subscription plan could possibly restrict free speech far beyond
even the current restrictions set by the governments of communist China.
Not only would browsing be limited, but privacy would be invaded, as
every web site viewed would likely be recorded on a bill in a manner
similar to a phone bill.
Why would the ISPs institute such a plan? One word: money.
This new subscription model is commercially far more beneficial to them
than how it is now, Leysen said. If Fox wants to launch a new television
show online, they'll have to pay big money to all major ISPsto ensure
that their new show will be offered and pushed in the standard package &
of sites/services/ channels that people will get through their Internet
access. Plus ISPs will also gain extra revenue out of people trying to
access the rest of the Internet, as they'll pay extra subscription fees
for every web site they visit.
But it's not just the big ISPs that stand to gain.
Marketing and big budget content-pushing just doesn't seem to work on
the Internet, and this is something that several industries want fixed.
ISPs know this and will benefit greatly by fixing this for the marketing
and entertainment industry, Leysen said.
The ISPs are said to be confident they can institute such plans through
deceptive marketing and fear tactics.
The Internet will be more and more marketed as a place full of child
pornography and other horrible illegal activity in order to get people
on their [the ISP side once they start restricting it and make it safer,
Leysen said. Unless we really make a stand for this and make sure that
mainstream media thoroughly covers the issue, the whole thing will be
eased in with proper marketing to make sure that most mainstream
customers won & wouldn't make a big deal out of it. They will
onlyrealize what was lost long after it's gone."
"*Canadian ISPs Plan Net Censorship*
Concerns grow that Canada's plan will wipeout alt news sites and spread
to U.S.
By Mike Finch
A net-neutrality activist group has uncovered plans for the demise of
the free Internet by 2010 in Canada. By 2012, the group says, the trend
will be global.
Bell Canada and TELUS, Canada's two largest Internet service providers
(ISPs), will begin charging per-site fees on most Internet sites,
reports anonymous sources within TELUS.
It's beyond censorship, it is killing the biggest ecosystem of free
expression and freedom of speech that has ever existed. I Power
spokesperson Reese Leysen said. I Power was the first group to report
on the possible changes.
Bell Canada has not returned calls or emails.
The plans made by the large telecom businesses would change the Internet
into a cable-like system, where customers sign up for specific web
sites, and must pay to see each individual site beyond a certain point.
Subscription browsing would be limited, extra fees would be applied to
access out-of-network sites. Many sites would be blocked altogether.
We had inside sources from bigger companies who gave us the information
on how exclusivity deals are being made at this moment between ISPs and
big content providers (like TV production studios and major video game
publishers) to decide which web sites will be in the standard
packageoffered to their customers, leaving all the rest of the Internet
unreachable unless you pay extra subscription fees per every
non-standard site you visit,Leysen said.
We knew the source to be 100% reliable, but we also knew the story would
be highly controversial if we released the information. We did it
because we knew that we get more official confirmations once we come
forward with it. And indeed that is what happened. Dylan Pattyn, who is
writing the soon-to-be published article for Time Magazine, received
confirmation from sources within Bell Canada and TELUS after we released
the information.
The plans would in effect be economic censorship, with only the top 100
to 200 sites making the cut in the initial subscription package. Such
plans would likely favor major news outlets and suppress smaller news
outlets, as the major news outlets would be free (with subscription) ,
and alternative news outlets, like AFP, would incur a fee for every
visit.
The Internet will become a playground for billion-dollar content
providers just like television is, said Leysen. It won'tbe possible like
E-bay that then grows out to be the next big thing anymore.
Right now the Internet belongs to those with the greatest ideas. In the
future, it'll belong to those with the biggest budgets.
With plans in Canada uncovered, I Power thinks that companies in the
United States and other nations are also planning similar actions.
By 2012 ISPs all over the globe will reduce Internet access to a TV-like
subscription model, only offering access to a small standard amount of
commercial sites and require extra fees for every other site you visit.
These other sites would then lose all their exposure and eventually shut
down, resulting in what could be seen as the end of the Internet,
Leysen said.
Such a subscription plan could possibly restrict free speech far beyond
even the current restrictions set by the governments of communist China.
Not only would browsing be limited, but privacy would be invaded, as
every web site viewed would likely be recorded on a bill in a manner
similar to a phone bill.
Why would the ISPs institute such a plan? One word: money.
This new subscription model is commercially far more beneficial to them
than how it is now, Leysen said. If Fox wants to launch a new television
show online, they'll have to pay big money to all major ISPsto ensure
that their new show will be offered and pushed in the standard package &
of sites/services/ channels that people will get through their Internet
access. Plus ISPs will also gain extra revenue out of people trying to
access the rest of the Internet, as they'll pay extra subscription fees
for every web site they visit.
But it's not just the big ISPs that stand to gain.
Marketing and big budget content-pushing just doesn't seem to work on
the Internet, and this is something that several industries want fixed.
ISPs know this and will benefit greatly by fixing this for the marketing
and entertainment industry, Leysen said.
The ISPs are said to be confident they can institute such plans through
deceptive marketing and fear tactics.
The Internet will be more and more marketed as a place full of child
pornography and other horrible illegal activity in order to get people
on their [the ISP side once they start restricting it and make it safer,
Leysen said. Unless we really make a stand for this and make sure that
mainstream media thoroughly covers the issue, the whole thing will be
eased in with proper marketing to make sure that most mainstream
customers won & wouldn't make a big deal out of it. They will
onlyrealize what was lost long after it's gone."
