Are the days of the free internet over? Your views on the big question

NEWS News that 66 per cent of interactive publishers are preparing to charge for content - prompting the headline, Are the days of the free internet over? (http://www.silicon.com/a51792 ) - has hit a nerve with silicon.com readers As the pick of the comments below suggest most readers believe paid for content is not only bad for the sites which charge it's bad for the web as a whole. Do these views reflect the overall feeling among silicon.com readers as whole? Only you can say. After you've read the comments below add your weight to the ongoing debate. WWWon't work
By David Goadby
It will never happen. The fastest way to kill the WWW is to start charging for content. How do you think people will feel if they are just browsing and at each new site they have toenter a Visa number - they just won`t do it. I do pay for some content but it is mainly specialist financial and worth the money. How to shoot yourself in the foot!
By Walter Brewster
Well this would certainly finish things for freedom of exchange but surely most organisations will only partition certain areas of their content in this way. Otherwise it`s going to be a very quiet and empty internet! I can`t think of any content I`d actually pay for at present except perhaps some BBC areas but I`d rather see that built into the licence fee in any case. Those in favour
By Ian Standish-Leigh
So charges are to be levied against site usage. I for one would be delighted to see advertising revenue fall, who needs advertising get rid of the weakest link and we might start to get better and faster sites. Just think, a world without pop-ups utopia.. Wake up and smell the coffee
By The PieThief
Most of your readership is referral, its people like me or you sending article links to a friend(s) and saying `read this`. If all they ever get is a denial due to not being a member then i/we stop sending those links or find somewhere else.
If you don`t want to be in this business then go somewhere else. `McDonalds is always hiring` etc The Strategy of a Pusher
By Ainsley Charles Ward
Strange, but the guy in a nightclub that offers you free drugs to get you hooked and then charges you the earth is said to be immoral both in his wares and sales tactic...why is the web heading this way. It has always been, and always should be a free exchange for information. If you can`t afford to do it for free, you shouldn`t do it at all.