A gaggle of sleazy telecoms have united their individual minds into a gelid hive mind aimed at bringing about an end to flat pricing on the Internet.

The Progress and Freedom Foundation — a think tank comprised of members of the telephone, cable and media industries — are plotting to charge you extra every time you talk to your Grandma over Skype, roleplay a balding, perverted gnome named HumbertHumbert in World of Warcraft, or download a torrent of every episode of Are You Being Served?

A spokesman for the organization is quick to insist that this isn’t “corporate greed”. It’s “an exciting new Internet business model!” We’re all for exciting new business models. Really. The problem is that a new business model is not truly exciting unless it both allows a company to maximize its profit and allow its customers the luxury of getting more for what they already pay… or at least the same standard of service. But reaming your customers by charging them exorbitant amounts of money for what they have previously been playing a flat price for? That’s corporate greed, plain and simple.

The internet isn’t a finite resource, like oil or Jenna Jameson. It’s a constantly expanding sea of thoughts and information. As technology is created that gives us greater access to draw from that ocean, the price for a bucketful should go down, not up… unless guys like this get clearance to start selling us buckets with a hole in the bottom.

Link: Telecom industry considers a la carte Internet (Thanks, Sara!)

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