Has Google Turned On Us?

It's 13 years too late, but Judgment Day is upon us.

Anyone familiar with the Terminator movie series knows that the day the machines become aware was to occur on August 29,1997.

Turns out, it might just be on August 9, 2010.

That may be the day, as The New York Times reports, that Google and Verizon sell out Internet users across the world, when the two announce their partnership allowing Verizon to speed "some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content’s creators are willing to pay for the privilege." Content such as Google's YouTube.

Basically, it means that the idea of net neutrality - that no one person, entity or corporation owns the Internet, an idea once backed by Google - could be dead in the water.

Since the backbone of the Internet - the optic cables and wires that were laid in the 1990s - was paid for by tax dollars, it would be akin to selling off our national highways to private companies and allowing them to charge whatever they want to use the lanes. Those with deep pockets would have sole access to the fast lanes.

It basically privatizes a public utility.

A neutral Internet allows anyone with a bold idea the ability to communicate with the world and provide value and service (like DotLoop). A closed Internet allows a few companies to control what message gets prioritized (like cable) and severely limits users' experience.

Now is the time to act to help save the Internet as we know it.

Before it's terminated.