Big Corporate in disguise

Ever since the elections, I have to have a Huffingtonpost fix every morning. And one of the articles I read this morning disturbed me. It was an article labeled "FCC chair to push for free, porn-free National Internet".

At first glance, the headline seemed fantastic - free Internet service. Upon reading further, I was appalled at how pure self-serving corporate greed was framed to sound so altruistic . So they were trying to establish smut-free internet but hey, read further, here's an excerpt:

"The proposal to allow a no-smut, free wireless Internet service is part of a proposal to auction off a chunk of airwaves. The winning bidder would be required to set aside a quarter of the airwaves for a free Internet service. The winner could establish a paid service that would have a fast wireless Internet connection. The free service could be slower and would be required to filter out pornography and other material not suitable for children. The FCC's proposal mirrors a plan offered by M2Z Networks Inc., a start-up backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner John Doerr."

So what does this mean to us - the avearage citizens?
What it means is this: we will soon have corporate America (with their appendage lobbyists) regulating the sites we can visit, the blogs we can read, and the free press by virtue of the fact that they control the speeds at which we can access sites.

And how can this happen with the seemingly great idea from the FCC chair of blocking porn?
What will happen is posts like this one, for instance, will need to pay for you to be able to access them fast enough. Otherwise, in the name of "free Internet" you'll probably sit at your computer waiting for my blog to download at excrutiatingly slow speeds and you will finally give up and go to the paid Internet which will be regulated either because only those who are willing to pay can host their sites on it or by the corporates who will now have us by the b***s.

And so what happens to the freedom of the press and the voice of the people?
Corporate America takes over, folks. We read what they want us to read, we hear what they want us to hear, we will now access only those sites they want us to access.

What about the smut-free Internet? Isnt that a good thing for our kids?
Yes, of course it is, but then which kid didnt do the things you didnt want them to do anyway? Which kid wont access the paid porn sites if he/she wanted to? Who are they trying to kid with this dissemblance?

Are we giving up our rights?
Yes, yes and yes. Right to free speech, right to visit all sites on the Internet, right to read what we want, right to hear anyone say what they want to...

Protest. Dont let this happen. EVERYTHING CANNOT BE BOUGHT AND THE AIRWAVES ARE ONE OF THE THINGS THAT SHOULD NOT BE SOLD.