Death of Free Internet is Imminent- Canada Will Be Test Case

Editor's Note: 

This article has been edited from its previous version and criticism of individual corporations has been removed. I have done this editing reluctantly but on the other hand I wish to protect the integrity of what I write on this website. My only wish is for the truth to come out and that our freedoms are protected.

However, my thoughts and opinions regarding the death of the Internet have not changed and I intend to do more research and write further about what will undoubtedly become the end of the free, unregulated transfer of information over the Internet, unless more people are willing to speak out and put pressure on our governments and corporations.

I apologize to any readers who feel I have misled them in any way, and I can assure you that it is never my intention. To the many readers who have contributed feedback, both positive and negative, I thank you for your contributions.   KP

_____________________________________________________________________________________

In the last 15 years or so, as a society we have had access to more information than ever before in modern history because of the Internet. There are approximately 1 billion Internet users in the world and any one of these users can theoretically communicate in real time with any other on the planet.

The Internet has been the greatest technological achievement of the 20th century by far, and has been recognized as such by the global community. The free transfer of information, uncensored, unlimited and untainted, still seems to be a dream when you think about it. Whatever field that is mentioned- education, commerce, government, news, entertainment, politics and countless other areas- have been radically affected by the introduction of the Internet.

 And mostly, it's good news, except when poor judgements are made and people are taken advantage of. Scrutiny and oversight are needed, especially where children are involved. However, when there are potential profits open to a corporation, the needs of society don't count.

Take the recent case in Canada with some telecommunications companies rolling out a charge for text messaging without any warning to the public. It was an arrogant and risky move for the telecommunications giants because it backfired. People actually used Internet technology to deliver a loud and clear message to these companies and that was to scrap the extra charge. The people used the power of the Internet against the big boys and the little guys won.

However, the issue of text messaging is just a tiny blip on the radar screens of Internet Service Providers (ISP'S) in Canada. Our country is being used as a test case to drastically change the delivery of Internet service forever. The change will be so radical that it has the potential to send us back to the horse and buggy days of information sharing and access.

Start surfing the Internet and begin looking for information about charging per site fees on most Internet sites in the near future. The plan is to convert the Internet into a cable-like system, where customers sign up for specific web sites, and then pay to visit sites beyond a cutoff point.

From my browsing (on the currently free Internet)  I read an article by Mike Finch at American Free Press The article explained that the 'demise' of the free Internet is slated for 2010 in Canada, and two years later around the world! Canada is seen a good choice to implement such shameful and sinister changes, since Canadians are viewed as being laissez fair, politically uninformed and an easy target.

 The corporate marauders will iron out the wrinkles in Canada and then spring the new, castrated version of the Internet on the rest of the world, probably with little fanfare, except for some dire warnings about the 'evil' of the Internet (free) and the CEO's spouting about 'safety and security'. These buzzwords usually work pretty well.

 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.

And this is where the Internet (free) as we know it will suffer almost immediate, economic strangulation. Thousands and thousands of Internet sites will not be part of the package so users will have to pay extra to visit those sites! In just an hour or two it is possible to easily visit 20-30 sites or more while looking for information. Just imagine how high these costs will be.

At present, the world condemns China because that country restricts certain websites. "They are undemocratic; they are removing people's freedom; they don't respect individual rights; they are censoring information,” are some of the comments we hear. But w is being planned for Canadians is much worse than that. The death of the Internet (free) as we know it is coming soon from where I sit, and I expect they'll be hardly a whimper from Canadians.

It's all part of the corporate plan for a New World Order and virtually a masterstroke that will lead to the creation of billions and billions of dollars of corporate profit at the expense of the working and middle classes. There are so many other implications as a result of these changes, far too many to elaborate on here.

Be aware that we will all lose our privacy because all websites will be tracked as part of the billing procedure, and we will be literally cut off from 90% of the information that we can access today. The little guys on the Net will fall likes flies; Bloggers and small website operators will die a quick death because people will not pay to go to their sites and read their pages. Ironically, the only medium that can save us is the one we are trying to save- the Internet (free).

This article will be posted on my Blog, www.realitycheck.typepad.com and I encourage people and groups to learn more about this issue. Canadians can keep the Internet free just as they kept text messaging free. Don't wait for the federal politicians. They will do nothing to help us.

 I would welcome a response from any telecommunications company regarding such changes to the Internet, and that access to Internet sites will remain FREE in the years to come. In the meantime, I encourage all of you to write to the media, ask questions, phone the radio station, phone a friend, or think of something else to prevent what appears to me to be inevitable.

Maintaining Internet (free) access is the only way we have a chance at combatting the global corporate takeover, the North American Union, and a long list of other deadly deeds that the elite in society have planned for us. Yesterday was too late in trying to protect our rights and freedoms. We must now redouble our efforts in order to give our children and grandchildren a fighting chance in the future.

Comments

[Jim Johannsson]

Kevin,

Several weeks ago I spoke to the alleged Time Magazine reporter, Dylan, about this issue and sent him the attached note. Dylan conceded that he was not a Time Magazine staff reporter but was hoping to submit a freelance story for their consideration. I never heard back from him after this note nor have we received any formal follow-up from Time Magazine as would be a normal part of the fact checking process prior to publication.

As I confirmed with Dylan a few weeks ago, TELUS is not part of any global movement to radically alter the Internet and we would appreciate if your group would cease those allegations.

Jim Johannsson
TELUS Director Media Relations

*****
Dylan,

Thanks for your inquiry. As you know, the Internet is not centrally controlled or managed by any single company or government so the suggestion that there is a massive coordinated movement towards repackaging content on the Internet into television-like channels and charging on a per usage basis is nothing more than a fanciful conspiracy theory. The reality of the Internet is that any organization is free to try out different things to meet potential user's needs and to try to attract customers to their services. This competitive foundation ensures that consumers are driving the evolution of the Internet - companies that introduce services or impose unpopular restrictions on their customers will simply lose those customers to competitors.

The model you reference in your email sounds a lot like the "walled garden" approach that has been used by many organizations, with varying degrees of success, since the early days of the Internet. For example, AOL used this approach to successfully introduce the Internet to the consumer market when Internet browsers were still in their infancy and online content was extremely limited. Today, this approach is less popular as there is plenty of compelling online content and PC security tools are readily available and adequately protecting users from the ugly aspects of the Internet.

The Internet is now making it's way onto cellphones. You have probably seen that many wireless companies have created "walled garden's" of WAP encoded Internet content to help mobile users get easier access to online content that will display properly on the small screens of cellphones. You can still access the non-WAP Internet without restriction, but the content is unlikely to be rendered properly. Obviously, as mobile technology and content continues to evolve, service providers will explore new ways making these capabilities available to potential customers. I wish we could tell you what the Internet would look like in five years, but the reality is that it will evolve to take advantage of the types of applications that new technology will enable and that potential customers are willing to purchase. From our perspective, we believe the Internet will continue to be shaped by the needs of consumers.

Best regards,

Jim

[Dominic Bernardin]

Im a tech for an ISP in the eastern rural region of manitoba we are a small localy owned company supplying highspeed wireless internet to areas where there is no hardline, so there is no other options for internet aside from dial up. I do installations and repairs of our equiptment that is set on roofs and towers. This is the first i have ever heard of such a plan to chrage per site, we have no plans to do so, and at this point we dont even actualy have a way to monitor which sites our customers viset. If the mega companies do start trying to chrage per site smaller isp's would come up annd be able to sell you the same service your buying right now. And the mega companies would actualy legaly have to sell the smaller companies the bandwidth to do so. So i highly doubt a pay per site system would work.

[Kevin McGuinn]

I'm not a tech, I'm not reporter, I don't work for a telecom co. All I want to say is that your report lacks any citation or verification. I am just an interested reader who wants to fact check your allegations.

[Micheal Johnston]

As a Canadian living in the US, I can assure you that Canadians are far from "Politically Uninformed", especially as compared to their counterparts south of the border.

Additionally, the article fails to cite any sources. Interesting speculation? Sure. Actual journalism? Not even close.

[Masher1]

If you visit http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/1002/ You can eventually encounter the DIGITAL WALL from the boys at the NSA. Once this wall is up your in YOUR OWN WORLD and every communication WILL be filtered or just plain BOGUS. I have tested. The NET is long gone with all these WAR dudes running it. Try to refute this. You will fail. Trust me the NET is MILITARY property PERIOD. All this civilian nonsense in thinking the net is free is VERY silly when you actually look for the hands on the doors and see the keys in the BIG locks all around.

TELUS boy at the top is a frickin LIAR. I use TELUS ALL DAY he is a liar. The net is becoming smaller and smaller with the stroke of every pen making REGULATORY changes to COST consumers every shred of liberty they once had.

Five years of full time attacks from some government spook trying to silence me and the others at my posting site has given us a CLEAR modus operandi for these folks and YES they want your brain DUMB and on there candy. DARPA NET candy.

Don't put any faith in TELUS boy.... They (Bigger Boys than TELUS)have a plan to CHARGE by the BYTE and you WILL Pay or be CUT OFF. Look at every single service now and think otherwise I DARE YOU.

[Mike]

I'm tired of this "Death of Free Internet" junk. I'm not taking the side of the TELUS guy, but I will say he is right. Customers won't put up with a pricing model like that, and this blog is proof of that.
The BIRTH of the internet started like this. Local BBS's, AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy, and other smaller ones charging for their specific content, then charging AGAIN for actual internet access. Initially it started out per minute, but then went to unlimited because of market conditions (people complaining).
Companies like TELUS are greedy. They want the most control AND the most money. However, they can't MAKE anyone use their services, so if they try something like this (which I don't doubt they would) they can be certain they would lose a LOT of business and, in turn, a LOT of money. The customers would go to the competition or new competition would pop up in order to maintain the status quo (unlimited, unrestricted internet).
There are a few conclusions that can be drawn from this article. 1) The author doesn't know his recent history well enough to know that it's been done before and proven that a business model like this doesn't work, or 2) TELUS and/or others have allowed this crap to disseminate to test the public reaction to a return to this model, or 3) some unknown competition is trying to hurt TELUS by saying they are going to be responsible for killing free internet.
Oh, and there is no such thing as free internet unless you are stealing it.

[Masher1]

The NET will always have a MILITARY hand on the Off switch. Not one comment will change the fact that the NET is ALLOWED to be what it is I.E. You are not getting what you BUY when the account is due. I PAY. I also get a royal screwing by Government/Military/Banking/Movie and DRUG thieves chopping at the content THEY WILL ALLOW ME TO ACCESS. I say the TELUS man is going to screw the whole system so bad to keep the game afloat as it is now with all this spying going on now. I use this net with FULL awareness of the trail of Qube Dwelling NSA nerds all over the place. You can only GATEKEEP of you actually hold a gate and a key. Think there is no gate or wall around you? Well? Try this start a Mp3 pool on a server and put it on line. Or try to PTP your 200 disk WHOLE DVD decrypt pool to your dad through one of THERE gates or over the internet in general. You will FAIL.

We KNOW all about the MYTHS used to enact the fascist doctrine.

Gobbles would be VERY proud of the world his teachings hath wrought.

Soon it will need to be dead and non working. So the power grid is clicked off and your free net is GONE.

There net THERE POWER. I would get used to doing with out for it is coming to this venue of the Cyber Myths.

[Masher1]

I would set up some Wall Street "Jumper CAMS" around the larger houses because this is going to get REAL messy. Seeing the effects of greed large scale will be a thing we should not miss on account of not putting up the cams to record the day.

Like roaches WE will come out and wreck the GREED man's big game.

Oh and we will party on there ashes the whole time whilst WE clean up this planet of the Evil Greed User and his cadre.

The coming hurt is going to get things DONE.

[Jonny]

I've never heard of this before, but I have heard of the free broadband or WiFi with censored content, then people have the option to pay for faster internet speed without the site restrictions. Whatever though, it's all crap, people survived without the internet...maybe it'll get people, including me, off their asses and change something. Hard to do that while sitting in a chair, looking at porn all day.

[madderhatter]

Bogus ? All of it. To those thinking the military owns the net, the military has their Own network - one which can't be touched by civilians. You really think they want our scrawnly little broken network ? Think again.

Let the canadians do what they want if they choose to be a test bed. Just remember, the United States pretty much controls all of the root name servers (DNS), so technically speaking anything with a .ca domain could be deleted from DNS with a couple of clicks of a mouse. I sure hope all the canadians are good at remembering IP addresses.

Seriously though, don't bank on this ever seeing the light of day. It falls under the same crap as when it was rumored that each e-mail was going to cost money.

[Chris]

I was bummed out to see this at globalresearch.ca and it has somewhat tainted my faith in the accuracy of the articles on that site. This piece is based purely on rumours and have no substantive base. I'm sure by saying this I will be labelled an industry shill. Let's see some evidence cited for a change instead of stirring the froth of rumour.

[Doug Plumb]

I agree wholeheartedly with this article. Canadians put up with far too much compared to other countries. We have a legal system that is a pathetic injustice - I don't think these "legal minds" can even think straight. They will bring us into this new internet.

Canada is unbelievably corrupt, far more than other countries. As a nation with 30 million people we are famous for child pornography, prostitution , etc. Vancouver is the third hottest spot for kiddie porn in the world according to the UN. People would be shocked if they knew how are system really works.

Its no wonder they have chosen us - a multicultural haven for them because we don't talk to each other - "divide and conquer" and the Canadian people have been conquered - mainstream media is too controlled to tell us this. We are far ahead of the US on the path to the NWO.

[Francis LaRouche]

We all have to take a stand on this and make out consumer dollars talk loudly even if our natural rights as citizens are ignored by these corporations.

[Kevin]

Don't listen to this man. His facts are wrong. He claims Rogers and Telus began charged for text messages, in reality Bell and Telus began charging for incoming text messages to those with no text messaging plan. He claimed Bell is going to charge fees based on specific websites, in reality Bell is planning to charge based on the amount downloaded. Any change in pricing would have to be approved by the CRTC, and something like this would never be approved. It is also against canadian privacy laws to monitor what websites we visit.

[WixBang]

This article is 100% opinion based and therefore *must* be taken with a behemouth grain of salt.

The simple fact is that ISP's cannot start packaging sites as they have no control over where a site comes from. What are they going to do, ban all sites that do not end in .ca or .org or .com? Ban sites that end in .fr (France) or .au (Australia)? When you purchase a domain name, YOU select the extension. Think of the millions of dollars that people and organizations would have to pay to change their domain names in order to suit Canada's needs?

It's never going to happen.

Also, saying that "Canada is seen a good choice to implement such shameful and sinister changes, since Canadians are viewed as being laissez fair, politically uninformed and an easy target" is a ridiculous statement and one that was shamelessly written to enrage readers and bring on lots of "duscussion" which equals more hits to your website.

[Case]

I personally think this is an amusing grassroots tactic of scare-mongering to preserve a kind of backwoods xenophobic, conservative culture that pervades a good quantity of small-town north america. Pages and pages abound with "We must take up the mantle of revolution!" Yet there is no available evidence presented, and this same article that calls us to stand on our feet declares us incapable of doing so in the same breath--saying that we will all fall prey to the tyranny of corporate regulatory forces. The idea that we are powerless in the face of asinine greed-mongering is a hallucination propagated by minds consumed by fear and dependancy. This may be true when it comes to essential resources--but as we utilize the internet daily for distraction, news services and communication--all of which can be replaced by alternatives, we see that it is non-essential. It represents a very convenient option with which to satisfy the informational appetites of a large population. That much can be seen by the fact that discussions like this are even taking place, in places where hardly anyone will view, or even form direct replies! Not to mention the sea of waste data, misinformation and machine-generated ad-garbage, spam, etc. I myself use the internet for communications with friends and family, and the occasional bit of research--but I'm not willing to pay on some absurd page by page cost program. The idea of each isp in existence having its own gated subscription database which stores access configurations that cover the scope of the entire internet for each service subscriber is logistically nightmarish. If some such program ever does come into effect, I will gladly dispense of my use of such an emburdened pile of datatrash. Much more logistically feasible is the "pay-per amount downloaded" scheme, but history goes to show that pricing models like this have not worked to great advantages in the past, unless the product itself is wholly desirable *and* there is a singular source of availability. The idea of nudging smaller isps out of business would become an impossibility, significant quantities of customers would abandon their currently profitable monthly charges, and wireless network hacking would become a national past-time. One only needs to look at the torrent community for an example of the tenacity of internet users when it comes to doing what they want.

If you can't produce anything worth taking seriously, then why post it? I looked for other news sources pertaining to this Canadian test-bed in 2010, and found naught but your article replicated across multiple sites numbering in the double digits. If you claim to be so well informed, then where is the information that you gleaned from simply browsing the internet? Is it credible? Seems like hearsay to me. If so, why do you persist in fueling the fears of the populace? Countless times I have heard paranoiacs spout the notion that "The Powers That Be" want us to be afraid so that they may maintain control, but all you seem to be encouraging is more fear and throwaway content.

[jb]

Typical unsourced garbage. This piece doesn't even mention the real problem, the threat to net neutrality -- see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality .

"It's all part of the corporate plan for a New World Order and virtually a masterstroke that will lead to the creation of billions and billions of dollars of corporate profit at the expense of the working and middle classes."

Uh, the corporations already make trillions of dollars of profit on the backs of workers and the middle and lower classes; the "New World Order" is called capitalism.

[Andy]

I'm interested to know how they will handle third party ads on web pages.

When you view a web page, very often you're connecting to 5-10 other, separate webservers.

I doubt that all the adservers will be on the list of allowed sites to visit.

Does this mean those ISPs will charge you per ad that you're forced to view?

Lets hope the free market prevails here. This has no benefit to any consumers unless their base package is like $0.05/mo and their main audience is over 80.

[Colin]

I thought it Telus and Bell that were rolling out the new text messaging charges, not Telus and Rogers... and I never heard any resolution either. As far as I'm aware their plan is still going to become effective in August/08. So no, the little guy didn't win. Yet.

That little goof makes me question every other fact in the article... :( good read though, and I do believe we have to fight for what we want... now more than ever.

[DB]

FREE INTERNET threatened?
I currently pay $55/ month for Internet service via Comcast!
DB in N.J., U.S.

[BG]

I haven't done enough research on this issue but I have heard about internet2 in the US. http://www.internet2.edu
Sounds to me like Bell is trying to get back all the money they lost from all of those FTA'S in Canada.

[bcarpent1228]

If this were true, the Open Source community would have been "up in arms" long before this story was published. Just not a believable story and i suspect posted just to run up the blog rate.

What is very possible is the ISP companies wanting to cash in on the "pay sites" by establishing a type of package deal for specialty web sites such as "media downloads", "scientific publications", "games", etc. There are many sites like the above where you pay $2-10/month for access and if the ISP companies can sell them as a bundle that is just good marketing strategy in a competitive market.

[Scott]

Frankly, if I wanted to make a 'plan', I wouldnt want to make one that would result in thousands of people gattering outside my personal residence......................................................Thats exactly what would happen.

[Nathan]

If they do this I just wont bother having internet. I think I will survive , so screw'em. Anyone who uses TELUS is an idiot , they are one of the worst companies ( Ask their employees ).

[Matthew dickinson]

If what Kevin Parkinson says is true, then why is he a part of Typepad?

From Wikipedia:

"TypePad is currently used by many large organizations and media companies to host their weblog, such as ABC, MSNBC, the CBC, the BBC and Sky News.

On June 9, 2008, Steve Jobs announced Typepad will be available for the iPhone in early July."

Why are they allowing you to write what you write? Why wouldn't you use some small independent service, the sort that you describe will be wiped out? Why not sign up with a small-time web host and then create your own site using your own command of HTML, CSS, etc., or use free blogging software?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog_hosting_service

Doesn't it mean that a website like "Reality Check" will be a part of the "package deals" that most people pay for?