The Death of The Internet?

[Pandora]

Article

Video

 

[2ndAmendment]

People will have to decide if they want the Internet the way it is or the way the corporate giants want it. This will be a test of capitalism and consumerism.

If the likes of Comcast start charging this way, I plan to disconnect. Web server, email, everything, down. Even cable TV, gone. If everyone does this in the first week that the new pricing structure is introduced and sticks it out, the corporations will relent and go back to the open system. Why? Money. They want to do this because they see more money. If everyone bails on them, they see a net loss. Oops. Wrong decision. Who had that idea? Fired. Put things back. Snail mail offerings. Please come back. We are the nice guys we were before, and we'll give you the first 3 months for only $19.95 for digital cable TV and Internet service. After that it will be the normal charge of only $69.95.

 

[vraiblonde]

Instead of penalizing the rest of us, why don't they just crack down on spammers and virus buttheads? I'd be curious how much bandwidth is wasted by those punks.

 

[juggy4805]

People will have to decide if they want the Internet the way it is or the way the corporate giants want it. This will be a test of capitalism and consumerism.

If the likes of Comcast start charging this way, I plan to disconnect. Web server, email, everything, down. Even cable TV, gone. If everyone does this in the first week that the new pricing structure is introduced and sticks it out, the corporations will relent and go back to the open system. Why? Money. They want to do this because they see more money. If everyone bails on them, they see a net loss. Oops. Wrong decision. Who had that idea? Fired. Put things back. Snail mail offerings. Please come back. We are the nice guys we were before, and we'll give you the first 3 months for only $19.95 for digital cable TV and Internet service. After that it will be the normal charge of only $69.95.

That will never happen in this country. The price of gas could rise to $5 a gallon right now, Do you think this country will try to battle with the oil companys? No they won't. We all would just complain and continue to drive cars that get 8 miles to the gallon. Why would we protest for Internet charges?

 

[Bruzilla]

I guess I'm taking a different view from 2A. If I'm a user who just uses the Internet for email, surfing, etc., and not doing a lot of downloads, the opportunity to pay $19 a month for broadband rather than $49 or $69 has a strong appeal for me. If I'm someone who surfs and some downloads I might want to pay $29 a month rather than the $49 or so I pay now. I think most people don;t like paying for something they don't use.

 

[Pandora]

That will never happen in this country. The price of gas could rise to $5 a gallon right now, Do you think this country will try to battle with the oil companys? No they won't. We all would just complain and continue to drive cars that get 8 miles to the gallon. Why would we protest for Internet charges?

But it should happen that way. What happened to people taking stances in those things they feel strong about? We have more power than we chose to believe.

When gas prices started going up, we bought a much more economical vehicle for my husband to drive back and forth to work in. Mike on here did the same thing. Some on this forum bought motorcycles instead of driving a gas hog big vehicle back and forth to work or whenever else it was feasible. Each one of us have some role we can play, we just have to play it.

I’m with 2A, I will disconnect now don’t y'all cry for me Southern Maryland, I’ll actually get things done in a timely manner. Ahhhhh life before the Internet. I never had a room in my house spackled and ready to paint just sitting there for 2 months. But it is sure nice the way it is. The Internet that is.

 

[CableChick]

I guess I'm taking a different view from 2A. If I'm a user who just uses the Internet for email, surfing, etc., and not doing a lot of downloads, the opportunity to pay $19 a month for broadband rather than $49 or $69 has a strong appeal for me. If I'm someone who surfs and some downloads I might want to pay $29 a month rather than the $49 or so I pay now. I think most people don;t like paying for something they don't use.

I agree. Just like the different levels of basic, expanded basic and digital services offered by the cable companies. The only problem ... it's hard to take something away from someone and tell them they have to now pay for it. It will be something that eventually will be overcome, but not without a loss at first.

 

[MMDad]

This would kill pod casting, streaming audio, and streaming video. That would cut into advertisers ability to use those forms of media.

I can see usage caps being put into place, but if the caps were low enough to affect most users the revolt wouldn't need to come from users, it would come from content providers and would be far more effective.

Example:
Comcast sets limits. Users stop using streaming video from NBC. NBC loses advertising bucks because they reach fewer people. NBC tells Comcast that if they don't raise their limits, they will pull all of their channels off of Comcast. Comcast caves, and everything's back to normal.

Isn't capitalism great? We actually don't need the government to babysit us!

 

[CableChick]

This would kill pod casting, streaming audio, and streaming video. That would cut into advertisers ability to use those forms of media.

I can see usage caps being put into place, but if the caps were low enough to affect most users the revolt wouldn't need to come from users, it would come from content providers and would be far more effective.

Example:
Comcast sets limits. Users stop using streaming video from NBC. NBC loses advertising bucks because they reach fewer people. NBC tells Comcast that if they don't raise their limits, they will pull all of their channels off of Comcast. Comcast caves, and everything's back to normal.

Isn't capitalism great? We actually don't need the government to babysit us!

I don't ever see that happening. They would NEVER pull their networks from cable. The $$ they get from video advertising is enormous!!!! WE, the cable company, are the ones responsible for them being able to reach so many more viewers. Therefore, we put more $$ into their pockets.

:shrug:

 

[2ndAmendment]

This would kill pod casting, streaming audio, and streaming video. That would cut into advertisers ability to use those forms of media.

Good bye to the new SOMD Scanner. Sorry vrai.

That will never happen in this country. The price of gas could rise to $5 a gallon right now, Do you think this country will try to battle with the oil companys? No they won't. We all would just complain and continue to drive cars that get 8 miles to the gallon. Why would we protest for Internet charges?

You're right, probably won't. People are too apathetic. But there is a big difference between gas and the Internet. People have had a lot longer to become addicted to the use of gas than they have the Internet.

Do completely away with the Internet today and will your life go on? For most people, of course. Sorry again Vrai. Eh. bump in the road of life.

Do completely away with gas today and will your life go on? For most people, yes, but with much more difficulty. Work? You won't commute to D.C. any more. Where can you buy a horse and wagon? 1890's all over again. But life will go on.

 

[wmburdette]

Instead of penalizing the rest of us, why don't they just crack down on spammers and virus buttheads? I'd be curious how much bandwidth is wasted by those punks.

I just checked the statistics in my SPAM filter where I guard for about 150 users, and between 16 April and 17 May my system intercepted and processed over 64,000 messages and rejected 33,000 as bad. Looking at my firewall stats, we are under constant attack from hackers, bots, and viruses. I can see where a heck of a lot of my total bandwidth is definitely wasted by these dirtbags.

 

[2ndAmendment]

I don't ever see that happening. They would NEVER pull their networks from cable. The $$ they get from video advertising is enormous!!!! WE, the cable company, are the ones responsible for them being able to reach so many more viewers. Therefore, we put more $$ into their pockets.

:shrug:

I remember when cable was thought of as just a splash in the pan. Nothing much will come of it.

When the marketers lose sight of one simple fact, the business fails. Every person that does not work for the company represents profit or potential for profit. Every person, no exceptions, that work for the company is overhead. You can cut overhead to a degree and benefit business. You cannot cut profit without it hurting the business.

 

[vraiblonde]

Looking at my firewall stats, we are under constant attack from hackers, bots, and viruses.

So are we and we process hundreds of thousands of pieces of spam a month, most of which include pictures and/or attachments.

So it seems silly to penalize legitimate users when you just let these scumbags proceed willy nilly. They're starting to crack down on spammers, but they're going about it the wrong way. Literally one spammer can get a whole network blacklisted, which is stupid and prevents more legitimate email than it does spam.

 

[2ndAmendment]

I just checked the statistics in my SPAM filter where I guard for about 150 users, and between 16 April and 17 May my system intercepted and processed over 64,000 messages and rejected 33,000 as bad. Looking at my firewall stats, we are under constant attack from hackers, bots, and viruses. I can see where a heck of a lot of my total bandwidth is definitely wasted by these dirtbags.

I wish that there was recourse against spammers and hackers and bots. It would be nice to be able to track, arrest, convict, and make them pay for all the lost time and bandwidth.

 

[vraiblonde]

I remember when cable was thought of as just a splash in the pan. Nothing much will come of it.

And you certainly remember when the whole internet was considered a flash in the pan.

I sure wish I had some of my old Time and Newsweek magazines from that era....

 

[2ndAmendment]

So are we and we process hundreds of thousands of pieces of spam a month, most of which include pictures and/or attachments.

So it seems silly to penalize legitimate users when you just let these scumbags proceed willy nilly. They're starting to crack down on spammers, but they're going about it the wrong way. Literally one spammer can get a whole network blacklisted, which is stupid and prevents more legitimate email than it does spam.

Amen. Someone did a relay through my email server through a vulnerability before the exploit was closed. Now I have to relay some of my servers email because of black listing.

 

[2ndAmendment]

And you certainly remember when the whole internet was considered a flash in the pan.

I sure wish I had some of my old Time and Newsweek magazines from that era....

I remember the Internet before algore invented it. DARPANET or ARPANET.

 

[vraiblonde]

Now I have to relay some of my servers email because of black listing.

Did you go to spamhaus.org and request removal from the blacklist?

http://www.spamhaus.org/lookup.lasso

 

[2ndAmendment]

Did you go to spamhaus.org and request removal from the blacklist?

http://www.spamhaus.org/lookup.lasso

No. Need to do that. Thanks.

 

[beavis]

Instead of penalizing the rest of us, why don't they just crack down on spammers and virus buttheads? I'd be curious how much bandwidth is wasted by those punks.

Amen!