Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
Telcos planned to charge per website
The toll plan
Under that plan, a user who wanted to visit Yahoo or AOL would have paid a fee to their telco first, and the amount would depend on which sites they wanted. Alongside it came efforts to privatize the internet and create gatekeepers.
The open internet we have came out of a huge fight that people have largely forgotten.
The AI parallel
Open-source and open-weight AI models share one feature with that open internet: no company charges a toll to use them. These models run on small local machines and are not under the jurisdiction of any central system or agency.
What kept phone companies from controlling the internet?
In a series of decisions called the Computer Inquiries, beginning in the 1970s, the Federal Communications Commission separated basic phone transmission from computer services run over it. Phone companies had to offer the transmission to anyone on equal terms. That rule is what let early online services like AOL and CompuServe reach customers over ordinary phone lines. The principle came from common carrier law, which dates back to rules for ferries, inns, and railroads.
How did AOL's pricing change early use?
Through the early 1990s, AOL charged by the hour, so people watched the clock while they were online. In December 1996, AOL switched to a flat monthly rate of $19.95 for unlimited use. Usage jumped so sharply that subscribers got busy signals for days when they tried to connect. State attorneys general then pressed the company over the problem, and AOL offered refunds.
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