Every now and again someone sends me an article to read along with a request that I store my opinion on it in the Breadbin. More often than not, these articles require--ugh!--research in order to determine just what my opinion is, and whether or not it's a valid opinion. And I tend to shy away, because research is too much like work.
But I'll tackle this one, because...well, because I like debunking things.
Here's a link to the article I was sent. And here is its salient point:
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.
Looking around the site, my first inclination was to dismiss the allegation out of hand: "globalresearch.ca" is chock-a-block with corporate, government, and global conspiracies. Indeed, reading this very article further, I find phrases like "corporate New World Order" and "all websites will be tracked as part of the billing procedure" (hello, Big Bro! Howya doin'?) It all set my scam alarms to chonging away. As did the suspicious lack of linked source material. (It oughta be a law: any site alleging The Truth should have links to The Truth.)
But I decided to look into this a little further. There might be something to it after all: God knows the telcos are obsessed with profit, and if they could find some way to monetize the interwebs, they'd be rolling in it...even more than they are already, I mean. First I checked snopes.com, the site of first resort for anything conspiracy-related (and certainly one of the first They'd shut down if Their plans ever came to fruition).
Nothing there, one way or the other. (We can neither confirm nor deny...)
Although, running "Internet charges" through their search engine, I came up with an article tangentially related, dealing with alleged pending long distance charges for accessing the Net in the U.S. Falsely alleged, as it turns out. Snopes had this to say:
As soon as we get a hold of something we really like at a reasonable price, we start worrying that it will be banned, taxed, or made too expensive for us to afford. The Internet is no exception...
End of story? Not necessarily. Here's where the story came from. I found this after an unconscionable amount of Googling that, if all this is true, would cost me a pretty penny in the future. This site is an American version of Global "They're all out to get us" Research, but at least it provides a link to Save The Internet. And this place seems on the level. If companies in the States are dead-set on co-opting the Internet, you can bet Canadian companies are riding on their coat-tails.
The threat appears to be real.
I can't for the life of me imagine people--even Canadians--taking this sitting down. There's enough of an uproar now over those text message charges and Internet throttling. (My view on the latter strangely mirrors my view on cigarettes: if you're that concerned about peer-to-peer services, make them illegal. If it's legal, get your grubby hands off of it.)
Think what people would do if companies announced they'd henceforth be charging you for every site you visit. Pandemonium. The thing that scares me most is the censorship angle. ("We're not censoring: we're just controlling what you can and can not read online.") The 'Net was never intended to be censored. If you start restricting sites, either by blocking them outright or slowing their connection to the point where they seem like they are blocked, there might as well not even be an Internet.
I'll be looking further into this. Expect a follow-up. Meanwhile, Catelli (and everyone else), I'd be very interested in your thoughts.
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