Free Internet might be gone in 5 years.

it, do you think that we're gonna have to pay per site, and that'll be our only option?

There will still be a package that includes full access to everything. They're not gonna take that away from us.

They're just gonna start offering cheaper packages for people who only use the internet for only news or only sports. It would save the people money, and save the ISP bandwidth. The problem is, if they want to access something else, they'll have to pay extra for it.

But they'll still offer the same deal we're getting now. They're just gonna offer other packages alongside it, similar to how DirecTV works. 

I find that they will first have to shoot down net neutrality. 

cable and other services need to understand that delivery of content does not mean that the content is paid. IE like radio. Advertisement has paid for every thing that has ever aired on broadcast tv and radio...and same for cable. they are just getting greedy now, because they see apple and amazon making money on selling HD versions of content normally bought on dvd after a year of airplay. People don't want to wait that long, and they are eagerly awaiting price reduction on BluRay. This is the RIAA and MPAA trying to keep control and sorely losing. His point was that the internet is under government control...in fact, it has no control at all now. What he wants to do will require the government to have control first. He is suggesting that he will be some kind of savior over  uncontrolled creative madness, more like making money by being a racist pig. 

" I think that people are starting to get more greedy nowadays. "

" @Diamond:

The metatags are probably the best way to determine 'news' and 'sports' websites. Using a Web Crawler similar to GoogleBot they can extract everything, including IP addresses. Then they can automatically sort the metatags into categories. Websites won't change their metatags to belong in certain packages, because it will hurt their search engine rankings.

Most proxy websites have "proxy" in the metadata, and are easy to block. Yeah this will find most of them, but there will still be some others that are harder to detect.I don't know how to deal with those proxies. 

I do know they can easily sort websites into categories and packages. Then they can say, "OK here's the only websites you can access". And that would automatically block proxies since they're not on the allowed list.

"

" @Tireyo643 said:

" I think that people are starting to get more greedy nowadays. "

Indeed.If this comes out in 2012, you know the real end of the world. "

" It's called net neutrality. I've written a couple papers on it in my English Comp classes. It's saying that the internet is gonna become more like cable TV. 

It will have "sports packages", "basic packages", etc. It's gonna be more commercialized like TV.

It's very possibly gonna happen. The "sports packages" will include websites like Rivals, Scout, ESPN, etc. I'm sure there will be social packages that include facebook, myspace, twitter, etc. 

These packages will be offered alongside our current plans.

"

" @Absurd said:

" @Tireyo643 said:

" I think that people are starting to get more greedy nowadays. "

Indeed.If this comes out in 2012, you know the real end of the world. "

I consider internet as a luxury item because it's a form of entertainment, communication, education, business, and many other things.  People can live without the internet, but it would be harder to do the things you want to do and perhaps need to do.  It certainly won't be the end of the world if this "free internet" problem is addressed, it'll just make it harder on everyone to communicate, learn and so on. "

" God dammit, again people are throwing the word 'greed' around so recklessly.

And this guy's summation has a logical flaw in it. Scarcity is the basis of monetization. If there is a commodity that is so plentiful, it can be consumed with little to no effort, it is impossible to charge for it because people use money as a placeholder for effort; this is the basis for monetary systems in the first place. Some customers on the internet already have embraced paid systems for certain forms of internet-based media (be it porn, video games, music, whathaveyou), while others take advantage of piracy impugnity and contribute nothing in exchange for the media they consume. Sure New York Times and other newspapers will have to start offering better products for their advertisers, better vehicles to target specific demographics, and if that fails (which it one day might because advertising's value to business is ever so slightly diminishing), people will have to start paying for something if they value it.To the people who demand something that is either of value or takes effort or both to be available free of charge I ask: why not set an example and tell your boss you'll start working for nothing? "

Hallelujah for teh Canada. That fat old slob is delusional, I doubt that it'll happen anytime soon, if ever.

sounds kind dumb. i don't want to pay ISP then pay for another subscription to another site. i felt ripped off when i played xbox live. it would probably be the same thing.

It'll never happen...