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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Who Is Really Behind Internet Price Increases?

In 1440 German inventor Johannes Gutenberg invented a printing press process that remained the principal means of printing until the late 20th century. The inventor’s method of printing from movable type, including the use of metal molds and alloys, a special press, and oil-based inks, allowed for the first time the mass production of printed books.

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The first newspaper was invited by persian writer Reza Rezaei Javan . Throughout history many governments used newspapers for propaganda , the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, England, pretty much everywhere in the world this practice was used to help control and influence the masses. This was until 1992 when the internet was made available to the masses. Although Al Gore likes to take the credit for it, in actuality the internet was not invented by a single person or company. It was developed by a team of experts ,developments and ideas that help create the internet nearly a quarter century ago.
Development of internet actually started in 1957 when Sputnik I (the first satellite) was launched by the Soviet Union. The United States countered this with Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) in 1958 . What does this all mean to you and me?
Well it has changed us. It has changed the way we get our news. Suddenly information is available through sources other than the tabloid media. We’ve moved from an era in which ten western companies controlled eighty percent of the world media, to one where anyone can have an opinion and get it into the public sphere.
70% of people get their news from the internet instead of newspapers and radio. This has been a game changer. To break it down, lets look at my small business in 1992. I had a sports card store. I was one of the three biggest stores in Western Canada at that time. There was a site called Sports Net. This was like an auction site that would sell smaller stores 1 or 2 boxes of cards for relatively the same price I would have had to buy- 100 cases to get similar pricing in the past. So it instantly changed the way my business was operated. We used to get things shipped to Bellingham. Go down in our trucks, clear customs with a broker and distribute the goods to smaller retail stores. The second the Sports Net came into availability it eliminated any need to ship to Bellingham. You could get things delivered to your door in any quantity and at low prices. The second thing that changed all collectible business’s in the Lower Mainland was the creation of eBay in 1995. This enabled customers the opportunity to buy for example a 1952 Marilyn Monroe magazine, truly a rare item in the Lower Mainland and would probably have fetched $200 or more at the retail level. Now customers could search from home and now perhaps see 9 or 10 Marilyn Monroe items at around the $20.00 price. This pretty much killed collectible stores in the Lower Mainland.
Why did I go into such detail over this. Very simply it has affected politician’s the same way. They can no longer easily control what is being said in the papers. People, blogging and online papers are reaching expansive audiences. It has been a game changer. Look at what has happened in Tunisa and Egypt in the last few months. People are getting information the government really does not want them to have. Big Business with all all the corporate right agenda’s used to spend a lot of money in the newspapers and on radio. Not as many people are getting their news from that form of media.
Even with people on the internet , the rich still have an advantage. Many poor people find it next to impossible to pay the fee’s internet providers demand. With these new price changes coming it makes me wonder , who really is behind it all?


Abbotsford NDP Candidate David Murray with Ed Broadbent at Halifax convention
email : davidmurrayabbotsfordndp@gmail.com
twitter: davidmurray4ndp

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