The internet as we know it will begin a slow death on Monday, as this is the day that Google is set to announce a deal with Verizon, one that will create the first tiered system on the Internet. Right now, all is equal, all sites moving at the same speed, regardless of content where the consumers choose which sites will be successful, but this deal “could allow Verizon to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content’s creators are willing to pay for the privilege.”

Net-neutrality has been the operating principle since the internet’s inception and the telecoms have been trying to erase it for years. They argue that since they control the wires, they should have the choice on which traffic goes at what speed, but internet advocates beg to differ, “The point of a network neutrality rule is to prevent big companies from dividing the Internet between them,” said Gigi B. Sohn, president and a founder of Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group. “The fate of the Internet is too large a matter to be decided by negotiations involving two companies, even companies as big as Verizon and Google.”

This will turn the internet into your cable company, pay for this tier of channels, pay for HBO, Skinemax, the cable company choosing what will be offered…and then the  providers have to pay the cable companies to be part of their packages.

Right now, you click on this site and it will move just as quickly as if you clicked on Wal-Mart, all voices are heard, equally. If net-neutrality disappears, this will no longer be the case. Internet traffic will be routed faster to the websites that Verizon chooses, and if Verizon gets this deal done, the other telecoms will surely follow.

And yes, that means it’s over.

The internet will become clear channel as independent voices aren’t necessarily squashed, but they will be thrown to the margins, relegated to the long forgotten routes through long forgotten towns while those willing to pay thrive on the interstate.

How did this happen? In an article by Josh Silver, he explains:

We have a Federal Communications Commission that has been denied authority by the courts to police the activities of Internet service providers like Verizon and Comcast. All because of a bad decision by the Bush-era FCC. We have a pro-industry FCC Chairman who is terrified of making a decision, conducting back room dealmaking, and willing to sit on his hands rather than reassert his agency’s authority. We have a president who promised to “take a back seat to no one on Net Neutrality” yet remains silent. We have a congress that is nearly completely captured by industry. Yes, more than half of the US congress will do pretty much whatever the phone and cable companies ask them to. Add the clout of Google, and you have near-complete control of Capitol Hill.

Google, the company that advocates internet freedom, time and time again has sold us all out for profit. If Verizon and Google are allowed to kick down this door it will never be closed again and in this day and age where independent voices have been run off the radio, television and thrown out of publishing companies, the internet is all that’s left for free discourse, and some would argue, this is a large part of the point, more consolidation, more power and profit…less trouble from those who don’t follow the company line…

Google…ever been stabbed in the back by your brother?

Please contact your elected representatives…if the outcry isn’t huge, this deal will go through…

The FCC won’t stop it and who the hell can depend on Barack Obama?

Read the article…

Google-Verizon, the end of the internet as we know it

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