Two weeks ago, the CRTC pushed Canada’s broadband policy a step backward by major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Shaw and Bell to put the Internet on a meter, and charge both individual and wholesale customers (i.e. independent ISPs) based on the ways they use the medium.
There are at least two major problems with this decision: The first is outlined in a post to OpenMedia.ca’s Policy Watch blog, which described the decision as “a blow to consumer choice, to access, and to diversity in telecommunications in Canada”.
Independent ISPs, such as TekSavvy, pay incumbent telecoms like Bell for access points in their networks that can be controlled more or less autonomously. In applying usage-based billing (UBB) to these indie ISPs, the CRTC has allowed Bell to determine and limit how many gigabytes of usage their independent competitors can provide to their customers. Say goodbye to diversity in the telecommunications market.
The SaveOurNet Coalition and OpenMedia.ca hold that diverse ownership models help to ensure more diversity of voices, and therefore of content, in the media landscape. This brings us to the second problem: the implications for Net Neutrality (the open Internet).
It was established early on, in the 2008 controversy surrounding Bell throttling peer-to-peer file-sharing, that discrimination against types of content is no different than discrimination against content itself. Bell is once again discriminating against forms of information, insofar as it will be charging consumers more for content that requires the use of a large amount of gigabytes, such as audio and video.
The CRTC has demonstrated a low level of consideration for these issues, and a lack of respect for the principles set forth in the Telecommunications Act (see 7C). This is unacceptable.
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Read the full text of the CRTC decision.
Sign the petition against usage-based billing at http://stopthemeter.ca/
...afraid it was just a matter of time the cable gods and other complicit political/corporate class to find a way into screwing up a promising open forum for the masses ...not unlike what has happened to tv and radio in the hands of a few vested interests that prop each other up and "legitimize " a system that is corrupt to the core...sadly, so called "Capitalism" and Party politics trumps "democracy" almost every time
I don't understand why this is buried at Rabble instead of being screamed on the front pages.
This is the most urgent threat to activists,artists, citizen journalists and the ability of lower income people to organize and/or to make a few dollars that's happened in a long time.
Why?
It's easy to see where this is going. Many dsl providers don't charge much for a telephone and their internet services are reasonable and the service is much, much better than Bell or Rogers.
This is the most ill-concieved, biased-against-the-disabled and classist piece of legislation to be enacted in years.
Disband the CRTC. They allow Faux News then cut us off from choosing what we want. This is about a service that is rapidly turning the financially disadvantaged and their children into generational non-contenders in the political arena.