Imagine one day trying to access the Google Adsense website and being hit by a "can't access" message. You think maybe Adsense is down. But you check the forums everyone else can access theirs. You think you've been banned you tried to access hotmail to contact the adsense team. It too is inaccessible. What do you do? Check your computer, call your ISP and there is the problem. It seems your internet provider has decided to block certain websites from you fo rapparently no reason, whatsoever except money. You stand stranded trying all kinds of methods to access your money only to fail. No email, no money, no news,... This will be the scene soon IF and WHEN congress decides to abandon the Internet's First Amendment. But that's not where it stops no here is just a few more things you may come to see:
- Google users-Another search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine opens faster than Google on your computer.
- Innovators with the "next big idea"-Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for dominant placing on the Web. The little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable to compete.
- Ipod listeners-A company like Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned.
- Political groups-Political organizing could be slowed by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay "protection money" for their websites and online features to work correctly.
- Nonprofits-A charity's website could open at snail-speed, and online contributions could grind to a halt, if nonprofits can't pay dominant Internet providers for access to "the fast lane" of Internet service.
- Online purchasers-Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower pricesÂdistorting your choice as a consumer.
- Small businesses and tele-commuters-When Internet companies like AT&T favor their own services, you won't be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your office.
- Parents and retirees-Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc.
- Bloggers-Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips-silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets.
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