ISP's confirm '2012: The Year The Internet Ends'

[Reaper28]

Bell Canada and TELUS (formerly owned by Verizon) employees officially confirm that by 2012 ISP's 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.

Dylan Pattyn *, who is currently writing an article for Time Magazine on the issue, has official confirmation from sources within Bell Canada and is interviewing a marketing representative from TELUS who confirms the story and states that TELUS has already started blocking all websites that aren't in the subscription package for mobile Internet access. They could not confirm whether it would happen in 2012 because both stated it may actually happen sooner (as early as 2010). Interviews with these sources, more confirmation from other sources and more in-depth information on the issue is set to be published in Time Magazine soon.
What can we do?

The reason why we're releasing this information is because we believe we can stop it. More awareness means more mainstream media shedding light on it, more political interest and more pressure on the ISP's to keep the Internet an open free space. We started this social network as a platform for Internet activism where we can join forces, share ideas and organize any form of protest that may have an impact. If we want to make a difference in this, we have to join together and stand united as one powerful voice against it.

Is this the biggest practical joke ?
I cannot see this actually occuring.

Your thoughts !

Source: http://ipower.ning.com/netneutrality2

[bigperm]

It's called net neutrality and it not going to happen if google has anything to do about it.

[Ben]

Does Ben need to smack a -----?

[stuffradio]

This is for mobile... of course they are going to.

[Dynash]

I can see it happening, it's already happend to TV.

[Electrism]

Dayam! That's gonna suck big time. I don't see it happening though. There are bound to be billions of people who are against this.

[JohnN]

I see a something akin to pirate radio happening, you can't expect all the hacking communities ect... to take this lying down.

google will save us here, if something like this happened google would go bust.

[hamster]

This won't happen. End of discussion.

[AMC]

Theres no way you can shut down a multi Trillion dollar international industry. It happened to TV because there was no kind of open-source revolution in that undustry. Also think - number of tv stations < number of websites by a factor of a billion or so ?

[tandoc]

Not dead until Netcraft confirms it!

[Dynash]

google will save us here, if something like this happened google would go bust.

How? They don't own the internet. They are just another company who lives on the internet.

[[DWH]Yuxuan]

I highly doubt it's going to happen - but you can never know...

[themoose]

It's not going to happen. Nobody owns the internet for one, and any company that brings this policy in is instantly going to lose 95&#37; of their customers to a competing company that doesn't.

[JonnyH]

No one ever ever would do this. Come on, think of it from a busines point of view.

[notnamed]

Theres no way you can shut down a multi Trillion dollar international industry. It happened to TV because there was no kind of open-source revolution in that undustry. Also think - number of tv stations < number of websites by a factor of a billion or so ?

More importantly, it costs thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a TV station, and lots of specialized equipment. Definitely not so with a website - it's not even that complicated to set up a server on your local computer.

[Dynash]

Well no one owns TV, but it happened.
Regardless if it does or not, I'm sure the net by 2012 would just be business and porn, I doubt you will use the net for personal stuff with the way sites like Digg and YouTube are going.

The OpenSource wouldn't be affected, since it's free, so there is no need to charge people.

[Skylar]

It seems like it would be an interesting concept to put into affect, it would definatally get rid of a lot of illegal websites that use hacking, warez, porn, etc. But the fact remains that there are billions of LEGAL websites out there that would fight this. I could see a lot of legal battles going up if something was to happen like this. Anybody stupid enough to try to do this will be the one who will get shut down, because there will be a LOT of people going after them.

We all live on the internet nowdays practically, and (as stated before) it is a multi-trillion dollar venture here. There is a lot of money that goes around the internet. By trying to control it, they will lose in the end

[Keagle]

No...just no way.

You can't talk about the internet just as an advertising medium...bear in mind the internet is used for world-wide communications, unlike the TV. The TV can be restricted because it's not really influenced by you, unless you're sad and talk to your TV. However I'm sure this would start a riot under some free speech concept we now have.

It depends what they mean by the "internet".

[stuffradio]

Again,

the reason why it won't happen is everyone has a right to equal access. Thousands maybe even millions of businesses rely on access to the internet. If anything like this ever happened, I could see thousands of people suing ISPs for doing something like that.

It won't happen, they're trying to scare you.

[Dynash]

Again,

the reason why it won't happen is everyone has a right to equal access. Thousands maybe even millions of businesses rely on access to the internet. If anything like this ever happened, I could see thousands of people suing ISPs for doing something like that.

It won't happen, they're trying to scare you.
China doesn't have free access.
what about that ISPs having to check all packets sent by users to check if they are doing something illegal? that would happen sooner or later, and the gov. doesn't see it as a breech of rights. since it isn't your right to use the internet.

[Tree]

China doesn't have free access.
what about that ISPs having to check all packets sent by users to check if they are doing something illegal? that would happen sooner or later, and the gov. doesn't see it as a breech of rights. since it isn't your right to use the internet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON

[Dynash]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON
That's not general internet tracking though, that's done by the gov.
I know about all that type of stuff, to prevent terroist attacks etc.

[JohnN]

If standard copyright laws were rigorously applied to the internet (as in every case was chased) there would be a meltdown. Many things on the net: remixes, reworkings, samplings, parodies all rely on fair use - but this is being threatened already. First p2p then the rest of the web.

CS-Skylar, technically only one of those three things you listed (hacking, warez, porn) is illegal - and that is warez.

Pornography is legal, (whatever your views) and hacking is perfectly legal provided it is white hat. Technically modifying your phpbb board is "hacking" - would you have sites that teach users this shut down?

[Skylar]

Well hacking -- I wasn't meaning like "modifications" I ment more brute forcers, etc. But yes you are right about Porn -- all depends on your location though. For example, if your Datacenter is in Salt Lake City, Utah it is illegal to host porn regardless if it is legal porn at all... But other than that, you are right.

[Dynash]

I know this most likely wont happen, but the human race gets greedy for money, so there is always an if.

[Johnson]

I don't mean to Obama spam, but he's the only candidate who is an advocate for net neutrality.

[DavidsAwesome]

I don't mean to Obama spam, but he's the only candidate who is an advocate for net neutrality.

That doesn't mean much. Politicians lie. I understand that Obama is different, but... I don't take everything anyone says 100% literally, especially when they want something from me.

[stuffradio]

China doesn't have free access.
what about that ISPs having to check all packets sent by users to check if they are doing something illegal? that would happen sooner or later, and the gov. doesn't see it as a breech of rights. since it isn't your right to use the internet.
You can't be seriously comparing China to Canada... they have always restricted access to the internet websites. All the ISPs wouldn't restrict rights to only major major companies and corporations. Lots of people pay for business lines on the internet so they can host their own website on the servers, and they pay other Hosts for "business packages". If they did this, millions of people would be out of work... there would be a civil war if something like this happened.

I might be over exaggerating a little bit... but seriously, no one would stand for it.

[Dynash]

There is always a work around. If the current ISP's blocked access, then there would be a new range of ISPs to allow open access for the fee you pay monthly.

[iBrightDev]

please dont waste my time with BS like this. it will never happen. simple as that.

[Eclouds]

And if it does happen, there are some smart ones who will start offering unlimited or should i say "unmetered" internet service out of data centers.... not very expensive to do so.

[Johnson]

Yeah, pretty impossible to round up every single isp to follow in line with ---- like this.

[Darknight]

If this happens, Give it a week or 2 for people to find a way to bypass everything and it will be just like illegal tv, everyone has it.

[jeetu]

lolz, who ever made that article might be a fool

[Skylar]

If this happens, Give it a week or 2 for people to find a way to bypass everything and it will be just like illegal tv, everyone has it.

Heh that made me chuckle +Rep

[Ben]

Universal ----- slap for dem hos