Scene 11 - Growth

21/05/06

Alright. So, I'm afraid I'm going to talk a little bit (by a little bit, I mean my longest blog ever) about this Save the Internet thing. If any Americans are reading this you're probably yawning, because this has been multi-talked-about in the US - but as a pretty unconnected UK citizen I've only just heard what's going on. And I know for a fact that some of people reading this are even less interested in internet-y stuff than me, so I think it's worth mentioning.

So, yeah. My Dad always said that one day, someone's going to come up with a way of controlling the internet, because there was no way it was going to continue as it is. And I always wondered if it would be a sneaking thing, or whether I'd see it coming. Now, maybe I'm wrong (or pessimistic?) but I think I've just spotted it coming over the hill waving a great big flag and saying 'HELLO! HERE I AM! STANDING RIGHT HERE!'.

It seems that several of the major internet distribution-y companies (no, I don't know what they should be called) in America are putting forward the idea of offering a higher speed service to those sites / servers / whatever who will pay them. So the sites which pay more will load faster (or load at all? I'm not sure ... but the time a site takes to load is a huge factor in how much it's visited, so ... ). Basically, the companies that get the internet to your house will have control over which sites you look at. The ones that pay will be the ones you see. Okay, that's probably a gross oversimplification, but I'm not an expert by any means. Please don't rely on me, check out the site if you're interested.

I guess it will be something like, oh I don't know, let's say every other industry - publishing, film making, TV, you name it - in that the distributors get to choose what they distribute. At the moment the Save the Internet people (a bizarrely diverse collection of groups) are trying to get a Network Neutrality bill passed which will say all sites are created equal and should be treated equally by the network. Yeah, I don't think it's going to work either. Equality is a wonderful thing, pity no-ones ever manages to put it into practice. This is not just small companies / sites supporting this, but big ones like Google, Microsoft etc. because obviously they didn't get where they are today by just agreeing to give people large wads of cash. But the American government seem to quite like the idea. And I can see why.

These companies must know what they're letting themselves in for. Previously, there hasn't been any one to blame (or anyone visiable anyway) when your search engine throws up random horrible shit. Now, someone's going to be in charge of what turns up on your computer, so it will be Their Fault. I would imagine they are selling it as a way of policing the internet - which it is, except the police will be privately owned. Whoo-hoo. But I have to tell you that what surprises me most about this is not the fact that the American government thinks this is a good idea, but that everyone else is so surprised it has been suggested. Because my Dad was right. At the moment, you can find out where something is without buying a map. You can find the definition of a word without buying a dictionary. You can get a world's worth of information without even paying taxes to fund a library, let alone paying for a book. There was no way in hell this situation was going to last. Maybe the idea won't work this time, but I am certain - as I am certain I'm living in a capitalist society - that someone, somewhere is going to find a way to make us pay. And I say 'us' because believe me, if the sites have to pay to appear on our computers, then we'll be the one's providing the money.

My site is so dead, isn't it?

Damn.