All Digital

By Ayo

As my neurosis deepens, I become more and more devoted to digital media. Paper, unclean!! 

As I try to weed out unnecessary paper goods, my love of comics continues unabated. I suddenly remember webcomics. Digital comics are the best answer for my mainstream comic book needs, for manga and for newspaper strips (via subscription services). But my off-beat, independent voices? What of they? 

I have neglected webcomics of late because of the stress involved with keeping up. Ironically, paying for discrete units, ie, comic books makes it easier to regulate what I am reading. The wild open range of webcomics became overwhelming until I decided to retreat entirely.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

So here's the thing: currently AT&T along with a bunch of other mobile carriers are going to turn off the Internet. All of these things I've described and more will vanish overnight with data caps, service throttling and tiered payments.

The mobile Internet needs to be available at a flat subscription rate just like desktop Internet is. Putting Internet data on a pay-as-used scale penalizes customers who use mobile tools as they are designed: an alternative to larger computer units.

All of a sudden I'll have to ask if that cat video is worth it, if buying that issue of your comic (large data transfer there) is worth it. All of a sudden, the Internet is no longer open to all at a flat rate. Some customers will be punished for normal twenty-first century computer usage. And that will only serve to limit business transactions and throttle modern information industry.