The days of free surfing are fast coming to a close with a payed internet just five years away, according to the chairman and chief executive of IAC.

Barry Diller, who runs IAC, which operates a collection of more than 30 Internet sites which produce $1.5 billion a year in revenue said that the world wide wibble is passing from its free days into a paid system.Talking to the Advertising 2.0 conference in Manhattan he said that not every single thing will be paid for, but anything of value.

The only reason it has been free so far is because of "an accident of historical moment that will be corrected," he said. This is a period of "creative chaos" that will span the next three to five years. This will change as the big player decide to sit behind pay walls even it if means cutting back on hits. Diller said people will pay, if it is quality they're buying.