The Year The Internet Ends: 2012

October 13th, 2008

"Every significant Internet provider around the globe is currently in talks with access and content providers to transform the internet into a television-like medium: no more freedom, you pay for a small commercial package of sites you can visit and you'll have to pay for separate subscriptions for every site that's not in the package. This has already been confirmed by inside sources of Bell Canada and Telus."
- http://ipower.ning.com/netneutralityold

That is right, by 2012 every internet provider plans to be changing to a television-like subscription plan.

What does this mean for you?

This basically means that you will only have access to a limited amount of websites in a subscription plan that you pay per month. Every time you go to any website other than these websites, you will be charged an additional fee. Basically, this destroys your freedom of browsing the internet freely. For example, if you are doing a research project and you need information for your project. Chances are you will use Google to search for your topic and find a site with information. Google will most likely be included in your subscription plan but chances are the site with the info you need won't be. This means you will be having to pay money for researching.

What does this mean for websites?

This program will virtually destroy all small websites that don't have a huge viewer base. Sure these small websites are great, but the reality is no one will be visiting these sites if they have to pay to visit them. If no one is coming to these small sites, they will no longer be able to fund the site and will be forced to shut it down.

Why is this happening?

The bottom line is money. Just like every other corporation out there, the internet providers want more money and this is a great way to do it.

What can I do to help?

In order to help prevent this from happening, everyone needs to get involved. This means spreading the word, and spreading it fast. This is where you come in. We need you to make sure everyone you know hears about this. Copy and paste the link at the top of this page into your signatures on forums and emails, inform friends and family on the issue, send the link of this page to everyone you know and lastly make posts on numerous forums telling people about this issue and giving them the link to this page so they can learn more. We also ask that you please Digg this site at the top of the page so that we can get the word across the massive Digg community. More ways to help will be released in the future including petitions. Return to this page at a later date for more on that.

U.S Citizens are now able to sign a petition which will be automatically sent to your member of Congress. If you are a U.S Resident then make sure you sign it here: http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet

It's not too late to stop this. The more this information is spread across the internet, the better chances of media companies and political parties hearing about this. Don't let the internet be confined, help spread the word.

Don't let the internet turn into this: