Google Inc. and eBay Incs Skype are investing in a startup that plans to help hotspot owners charge for Wi-Fi access, a plan that could face significant opposition from Internet service providers.

The Internet heavyweights were joined by venture capital firms Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital in making a $22 million investment in FON, the Spanish startup. In its announcement Sunday, FON did not say how much each investor was contributing.

FONs idea, floated just three months ago in a Web posting by founder Martin Varsavsky, is to sign up people who have Wi-Fi hotspots in one of two ways.

Linus members, named after Linus Torvalds, who created the freely distributed Linux software, will share their hotspot with other Linus members for free.

This is an interesting way in which to gain some revenue, read more courtesy of ap.org