How will I survive?
Here’s an interesting article about the sketchy future of the internet, courtesy of The Nation.
The nation’s largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online. Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency. According to white papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets—corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers—would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out.
I spend a good chunk of each day emailing friends and scanning gossip rags for celeb fashion faux pas. You could say my life revolves around emails and panty lines. If this article is true, the future looks bleak.
One hopes that this world domination plan will be run with the same skill as these companies run their primary businesses. If so we have nothing to worry about.