Here’s A Scary One by Jeff Chester & Steven Rosenfeld on the future of the web.
They say the thousands of lawsuits are not just about ensuring record companies and artists get the royalties they deserve. They’re part of a larger plan to fundamentally change the way the Internet works.
From Congress to Silicon Valley, the nation’s largest communication and entertainment conglomerates — and software firms that want their business — are seeking to restructure the Internet, to charge people for high-speed uses that are now free and to monitor content in an unprecedented manner. This is not just to see if users are swapping copyrighted CDs or DVDs, but to create digital dossiers for their own marketing purposes.
Under a scenario presented by some lobbyists, people on fixed incomes would have to accept a stripped-down Internet, full of personally targeted advertising. Other users could get a price break if they receive bundled content — news, music, games — from one telecom or media company. Anybody interested in other “non-mainstream” news, software or higher-volume usage, could pay for the privilege.
Via This Metafilter Thread.
hmmm…
The article does make you think of the possibility of that occuring, but I do not think people are that dumb.