Big Corporations Plan to Take-over/censor the Internet

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Big Corporations Plan to Take-over/censor the Internet

 

_http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/canada_net_censorship.html_

(http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/canada_net_censorship.html)

 

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 package' offered 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'd get more official confirmations

once we'd 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.an

 

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)subscription)<WBR>, and alternative news outlets, like AF

fee for every visit.

 

" The Internet will become a playground for billion-dollar content

providers just like television is, " said Leysen. " It won't be

possible for a few teenagers in their parents' basement to start a

small site 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

ISPs to ensure that their new show will be offered and pushed in

the `standard package' of sites/services/the `standard package' of si

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's] 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't make a big deal out

of it. They will only realize what was lost long after it's gone. "

 

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(http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/canada_net_censorship.html)

 

===

 

Visit Save the Internet _http://savetheinternet.com/_

(http://savetheinternet.com/)

 

You can speak at an FCC Hearing in Pittsburgh - Monday July 21

_http://www.savetheinternet.com/=pittsburgh_

(http://www.savetheinternet.com/=pittsburgh)

 

 

 

 

 

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