So, maybe the free ride is finally over.

For about a decade, we've been pretty well spoiled by quick and cheap access to the World Wide Web. Oh, the wonders we have beheld. Free access to newspapers all over the globe, message boards to pool our ideas, pop culture sites to feed candy to our brains — and, of course, porn — have been so easy to get our eyes on.

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Now rumors, even some facts, are coming down the information superhighway, showing us that this way of life to which we've become accustomed might change forever.

First the facts. Two of the largest, most easily accessible e-mail servers, Yahoo and AOL, are saying that they will start charging companies a small price to send out e-mails.

The servers say that this step, which includes charging up to a penny per message, will help weed out spam and Web scammers.

Critics say that Yahoo and AOL run the risk of alienating companies and customers.

On another front, Congress is hearing the so-called "Web neutrality" debate. You're going to think this is boring, but some say this issue is at the heart of your own online experience, so read on.

Right now, the online world of cable and phone connections is presumed to be neutral -- no one thing should be harder to download than another of equal broadband width. That's because no cable provider is deciding to give preference to one over the other, so they're neutral. Or so they say.

But the cable companies say it costs them a lot of money to build their networks, and they'd like to charge content providers a fee. For that fee, the providers' stuff will download to your machine much faster than those of someone who doesn't pay the fee.

And if the cable company owns the content, then its product would naturally download faster than anyone else's, critics say.

Still others argue that content providers shouldn't pay the fee, but that the end users -- you and me -- are the ones who should pay extra.

Now you care, right?

Well, someone has to pay them. They're not putting in all that cable out of the good of their cold little hearts.

Now for the slippery slope. People are afraid, maybe rightly so, that the next step is for cable companies to build databases all about you and your Web habits. And these worried people aren't just the porn addicts. They are people who rail against the government, the president, the environment, the economy, the national debt, etc. They're afraid of big brother -- and maybe they should be. They know that Yahoo and AOL are willing to give up information to the government without a fight, that Google is censoring the content available to the Chinese and "if you're not with us, you're against us."

I hate to say it, but welcome to reality. We've all been on a joy ride, with our free downloads and our teeming message boards. It's been a lot of fun. And it might not even be over yet. Congress might allow the Web to stay neutral. Privacy rights advocates might win the argument over who is entitled to know what you do online.

And monkeys might fly out of my a--.

Remember, people, that most of the big ideas in the world, good and bad, were born and grew without the Internet. Political ideas, philosophies, religions. Maybe all this intrusion will inspire us to get away from this box in front of us and come up with some new ones.