Internet freedom will die

"What's the likelyhood the internet is going to get less and less freer as time goes on?"
  - Anonymous #3417602

"100%, eventually the internet as we know it currently will only exist in usenet, and various darknets.

The internet is slowly moving in the direction of cable television. Only the few people who built the architecture of the internet and a few companies who are ran by some of these people are preventing it from happening overnight. Eventually, these people will die, all the consumers who are too lazy and apathetic will keep bleating to themselves that "The free market will fix it, I have no need to worry", and the companies will section and auction it off piece by piece.

The few people who had knowledge in software that may have allowed these consumers to sidestep this issue (such as the various pioneers of free software, as well as companies who are currently thriving on the open source software model) will either shift business models to take advantage of all the new money they will be getting from the cable-television model, or will fold/become irrelevant in the new marketplace.

Really, we have something amazing that we're never going to have again. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next 10 years, American legislation is passed which requires all operators of two-way internet connections to have an American-issued license, foreign or abroad. Any site or operator which is operating without a license is sectioned off from the greater internet by means of a giant firewall.

I'm pretty much assured it's going to happen and there's nothing anyone can do. The money in making the internet a one-way cable service is just too great for people to pass up, and would only work if EVERYONE gets on board. We're going to be seeing some scary regulations coming to the internet very soon."
   - Anonymous #3417807