[Mb-civic] Canada - Say no to Big Brother plan for Internet

[Edward A.Puckett]

[ From the Toronto Star ]

Say no to Big Brother plan for Internet

MICHAEL GEIST

During the Internet boom of the late 1990s, Nortel Networks ran an  
advertising campaign that featured as its slogan, "what do you want the  
Internet to be?" The implications were obvious — the Internet was a  
technology of unlimited possibility that could be whatever we wanted it  
to be.

More than five years later, Nortel's vision is becoming reality. The  
Internet has become so essential to the every day lives of millions of  
people — a pillar of communication, information, entertainment,  
education, and commerce — that at times it seems as if the Internet  
really is anything we want it to be.

Notwithstanding the Internet's remarkable potential, there are dark  
clouds on the horizon. There are some who see a very different  
Internet. Theirs is an Internet with ubiquitous surveillance featuring  
real-time capabilities to monitor online activities. It is an Internet  
that views third party applications such as Vonage's Voice-over-IP  
service as parasitic. It is an Internet in which virtually all content  
should come at a price, even when that content has been made freely  
available. It is an Internet that would seek to cut off subscriber  
access based on mere allegations of wrongdoing, without due process or  
oversight from a judge or jury.

...

See:  
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/ 
Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1110150624459&call_pageid=970599119419