The beginning of the end for information monetization?

Or is it the beginning of the end for freedom of information?

There are a couple major happenings recently--

A few weeks ago, John McCain introduced blocking legislation at the same time the FCC voted on new net neutrality laws. He accused the new laws of being something near to a "government takeover" of the internet.

Then more recently, Rupert Murdoch came out and wagged a finger at Google News, threatening to block Google's search index--calling it a "parasite" who is stealing information.

I have the sneaking suspicion that both of these powerful older men still don't have much of an idea about how the internet works. John McCain is attempting to block the government from placing safeguards protecting the flow of information on the internet--the place where information is as neutral as the roads you drive your car on.

I think part of the problem, is that the cable companies who own a large percentage of the broadband network out there, are trying to apply a television monetization model to it. We pay a nominal fee for basic cable, but if we want access to premium services (HBO, Showtime) we gotta pay extra.

Of course, this means that online heavyweights like Google, Microsoft, and everyone else associated with online business will (hopefully) go up in arms about this and fight it. I wonder if John McCain realizes that by restricting net neutrality to protect a few cable companies... he puts a damper on the majority of american business out there (Jupiter Research predicts that 82% of small businesses will be online by 2011).

And Rupert Murdoch--again, content monetization is a touchy subject when it comes to the internet. Subscription fees are fine, but one needs to devote serious money to quality of content if people are going to be willing to pay for it. Does he realize, that by blocking a search engine (and the most popular one), he is reducing the amount of traffic his websites will get, thus reducing the monetary value of his information?

Ug. Rupert Murdoch may still be the news mogul of the world, but I predict...if he continues being boneheaded about proprietary information, he won't last much longer.