Paranoia or real reason to panic: the death of “free” internet

According to an article on American Free Press, Canadian ISPs (Bell & Telus) are paving the way for a new pay-as-you-go cable inspired system that will be in place by 2010 and will serve as a model for the implementation of this system world-wide: “By 2012 ISPs all over the globe will reduce Internet access to a TV-like subscription model, only offering access to a small standard amount of commercial sites and require extra fees for every other site you visit. These ‘other’ sites would then lose all their exposure and eventually shut down, resulting in what could be seen as the end of the Internet.”

Whether true or conjecture, articles like this point to the very real fact that ISPs are going to be implementing some major changes in how we can access the internet that are above and beyond typical “traffic shaping”.