TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Why the Democratic Ethic of the World Wide Web May Be About to End

Why the Democratic Ethic of the World Wide Web May Be About to End

Monty Solomon (monty@roscom.com)
Tue, 30 May 2006 00:21:10 -0400

By ADAM COHEN
The New York Times

The World Wide Web is the most democratic mass medium there has ever
been. Freedom of the press, as the saying goes, belongs only to those
who own one. Radio and television are controlled by those rich enough
to buy a broadcast license. But anyone with an Internet-connected
computer can reach out to a potential audience of billions.

This democratic Web did not just happen. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the
British computer scientist who invented the Web in 1989, envisioned a
platform on which everyone in the world could communicate on an equal
basis. But his vision is being threatened by telecommunications and
cable companies, and other Internet service providers, that want to
impose a new system of fees that could create a hierarchy of Web
sites. Major corporate sites would be able to pay the new fees, while
little-guy sites could be shut out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/opinion/28sun3.html?ex=1306468800&en=cd83b09b58c721a6&ei=5090

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