Toll-gate on the information superhighway

If there is one benefit I really admire the Internet for, it`s the free and vast amount of mankind`s collective knowledge, easily accessible to those who choose to look for it. This enables us to forge ahead in our search for new knowledge, without having to reinvent the wheel each time.

[VIDEO]However, the politics of business and mankind`s search to better himself often come to loggerheads.

M-Web`s motive for closing its portals appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to the free Internet offering from Absa. Although the company claims to have not seen a significant amount of cancellations due to customers defecting to the new Internet service provider (ISP), sources inside the company say it has been hit hard by a loss of dial-up subscribers.

M-Web should be worried - despite M-Web`s verbal attacks on the free ISP model, its research figures and its evidence that free ISP models won`t work, there have been no complaints from Absa so far regarding its excessively fast growth.

If all Internet content providers closed their sites to non-paying customers, the Internet as we know it will cease to function.

Jason Norwood-Young, Technology editor, ITWeb

There have been some technical issues, mainly due to server load, with the POP server often not offering a connection due to the amount of people receiving e-mail, but generally the service seems to work. It may not be the fastest ISP on the planet, but its speed is sufficient for most casual dial-up Internet users. The price is right. The marketing and branding is strong. Most importantly, people are signing up and using the service. Some of them used to use M-Web.

The bold move from M-Web, the company famous for losing R1 million a day, is welcomed by some. M-Web had to do something drastic to its business model to reassure shareholders that it has a plan. No doubt M-Web was gearing up for its denial of content to non-M-Webbers for a while, and was spurred by the new business threat, Absa.

However, the company may not have weighed the consequences of its action correctly. Its move does not only affect M-Web`s portal, it also hurts M-Net customers, DSTV subscribers, SuperSport watchers, numerous news portals that feed off M-Web, etc.

ITWeb has received numerous complaints from subscribers to MIH-owned services, complaining that they cannot access information such as television guides from the DSTV and M-Net Web sites. Paying customers have been shut out from services that should not have anything to do with M-Web - independent MIH business units that used to use the Internet as a medium to communicate effectively with their customers.

The shutting down of information by one company could also tempt others to follow suit. If all Internet content providers closed their sites to non-paying customers, the Internet as we know it will cease to function. Its very foundation - built on trust and sharing - will crumble.

We may as well go back to the days of secretive LANs, equally protected and isolated from the outside world. We would have been given a taste of the possibilities of seemingly infinite knowledge, a new way to do business, an exciting new avenue for mankind to explore. We would have sipped from the fire hydrant of information, and then have chosen to close the faucet.

I don`t think this will happen, as I don`t think that M-Web`s business plan will succeed. Others considering the same move will watch M-Web with interest, and follow if M-Web succeeds.

If it falls, those watching will smile wryly, push the paid-for content business plan into the bin, and continue heading in the direction that makes sense - to treat information as a commodity, and use the benefits from the information revolution to make their money, rather than trying to put a toll-gate on the information superhighway.