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Edwards - No NN May Squash Grassroots
December 4, 2007

Speaking to a group of Howard University Students, U.S. presidential candidate John Edwards talked about Net Neutrality and joined a growing list of U.S. presidential candidates that support NN. A list that includes senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

You can watch his speech on YouTube. The most interesting thing he said, to me, was that he perceives a lack of Net Neutrality as having the potential to stomp on grassroots democracy and limit independant media.

While the U.S debate for NN rages on, who will get behind the cause in Canada? So-far, no MP or candidate with the exception of Paul Crête [bloc] has even mentioned the words Net Neutrality on Video. But I'm waiting, watching and will post whatever Canadian content I can get my hands on.

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Net Neutrality
Green Party Adopts Net Neutrality in Policy Platform
October 15, 2007

The Green Party, which released its policy position document today, has called for net neutrality legislation and ISP safe harbours.  The Vision Green statement states:

The Green Party of Canada is committed to the original design principle of the internet - network neutrality: the idea that a maximally useful public information network treats all content, sites, and platforms equally, thus allowing the network to carry every form of information and support every kind of application. Green Party MPs will pass legislation granting the Internet in Canada the status of Common Carrier - prohibiting Internet Service Providers from discriminating due to content while freeing them from liability for content transmitted through their systems.

Net neutrality is unlikely to emerge as an election issue, however, the Green Party position may lead other parties to consider and disclose where they stand.

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green party, internet service providers, isp, Net Neutrality, net neutrality, safe harbours, Internet service providers
Poll Finds Canadians Strongly Support Net Neutrality Legislation
October 1, 2007

A new poll by Leger Marketing (commissioned by eBay) finds that Canadians are generally unware of net neutrality issues, yet strongly support the principles that provide the foundation for net neutrality legislation.  In particular, the survey found that:

  • three in five Canadians concur that ISPs should be required to treat all content, sites and platforms equally.
  • two-thirds of Canadians disagree with the proposal that ISPs should be allowed to impose additional fees for access to specific content on the web.
  • 76% of Canadians (including 70% of Conservative supporters, 79% Liberal and 86% NDP) believe the federal government should pass a law to confirm the right of Internet consumers to access publicly available Internet applications and content of their choice.
  • 77% of Canadians agree that net neutrality policies protect the rights of Internet consumers.

While critics will undoubtedly note that the majority of Canadians were unaware of net neutrality, that has not stopped other groups - including copyright lobby groups and the telcos - from commissioning similar surveys and reporting them as fact.  Indeed, the survey's results point again to the lack of transparency within the Canadian marketplace as most consumers can hardly be faulted for being unaware of instances of traffic shaping since ISPs do not disclose such practices.  Canadian politicians have long ignored the net neutrality issue on the basis that it does not resonate with the public.  The Leger survey suggests that this is simply not the case and that legislative action would find broad public support.

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ebay, leger, Net Neutrality, net neutrality, Internet service providers
Corus Calls For Net Neutrality Task Force
July 20, 2007

As I wrote earlier this week, the deadline for submissions for the CRTC's Diversity of Voices proceeding closed on Wednesday.  There is a lot to review - samples of submissions from hundreds of Canadians, competing consultants reports (CFTPA hired Nordicity, Canwest hired Communic@tions Management), some calls for regulation of new media content (ACTRA, Socan), and opposing claims about whether the CRTC should encourage or discourage greater media concentration.

My column focused on the net neutrality issues associated with new media and the diversity of voices and I think it is noteworthy that several submissions raised similar concerns.  Corus, which is one of Canada's most successful media and entertainment companies, immediately became one of the highest profile Canadian companies to express concern about net neutrality, stating:

Canadian creators and producers need to ensure that they can continue to have access to the networked bit stream on the basis of equitable rules.  The CRTC should examine its potential role in governing net neutrality to ensure that access remains open to Canadian services on new digital distribution platforms.  Corus recommends the establishment of an Industry Task Force on net neutrality.

The Corus concerns were echoed by Pelmorex, which owns the Weather Network, which ranks among the most popular Canadian websites.

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broadcast, canadian media guild, corus, crtc, diversity of voices, net neutrality, new media, pelmorex, weather network, Internet service providers, CRTC, Broadcasting and Telecom, Cultural Policy
New Ownership
June 5, 2007

Neutrality.ca has served as an important clearinghouse for a Canadian perspective on the net neutrality issue. Kevin McArthur did a terrific job in getting the site launched, but as regular readers know, decided that he could not continue to operate the site. Given its importance, I've agreed to step in and maintain Neutrality.ca. Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to provide feedback on how the site can be improved.

Michael Geist

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Net Neutrality, Neutrality Blog
Public Participation. Last Post.
April 19, 2007

In light of some recent events, the neutrality.ca site as well as the partner site kevin-mcarthur.com will either change ownership or stop existing as of April 25.

This development stems from some recent events and the efforts by certain anti-neutrality interests to discourage public participation within the Net Neutrality debate

We are currently soliciting for groups that are capible of taking over this site and whom are willing to wear the legal intimidation that comes from operating a public policy website such as this.

If you are interested [and well qualified to do so] please contact kevin@neutrality.ca

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Net Neutrality, Neutrality Blog
Michael Geist on Rogers Neutrality Violations
April 16, 2007

Michael Geist via the Toronto Star is reporting on Rogers Net Neutrality violations. From the article:

Rogers' traffic shaping practices have also raised concern among network neutrality advocates, who fear that the company could limit bandwidth to competing content or services. Some customers note that the bandwidth consumed by customers of Rogers' Internet phone service does not count against the monthly cap, though the same is not true for competing Internet telephony services.

Further, traffic shaping of file-sharing applications . particularly those that use the BitTorrent protocol . targets a perfectly legal protocol that is relied upon by a growing number of small businesses. These include Canadian artists and film makers who use BitTorrent to circulate their work and open-source software developers who depend on BitTorrent to distribute their programs in a cost-effective manner.

In addition to the consumer and competition concerns, there is now speculation at my own university that the traffic shaping is rendering it difficult for University of Ottawa computer users to use email applications from home. [1]

The reports and activity by this carrier are not alone in Canada with most of the major ISPs engaging in some sort of Net Neutrality violations. Actions such as these by the carriers should underscore the need for strong Net Neutrality provisions to anyone concerned with telecommunications policy.

He goes on to state:

Notwithstanding the steady flow of complaints, the lack of transparency from Rogers, and the potential threat to core communications activities, there has seemingly been no action from any governmental authorities including industry minister Maxime Bernier, competition commissioner Sheridan Scott, or Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications chair Konrad von Finckenstein. In fact, earlier this month Bernier pushed forward with a telecommunications deregulation plan over the objection of a parliamentary committee that studied the issue.

1. Tortonto Star Article

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Net Neutrality, Neutrality Blog
Science Says "Not-Neutrality" = less network
April 9, 2007

The following is an abstract from a research paper on Net Neutrality by researchers from the University of Florida. It concludes as we do that without Net Neutrality, there will be far less incentive for carriers to upgrade and expand their networks.
Whether to legislate to maintain "net neutrality", the current status quo of prohibiting broadband service providers from charging online websites for preferential access to their residential and commercial customers, has become a subject under fierce debate. We develop a stylized game-theoretic model to address two critical issues of the net neutrality: (1) who are gainers and losers of abandoning net neutrality, and (2) will broadband service providers have greater incentive to expand their capacity without net neutrality.
We find that if the principle of net neutrality is abandoned, the broadband service provider definitely stands to gain from the arrangement, as a result of extracting the preferential access fees from the content providers. The content providers are thus left worse off, mirroring the stances of the two sides in the debate. Depending on parameter values in our framework, consumer surplus either does not change or is higher, and in the latter case, while a majority of consumers are better off, a minority of them is left worse off with larger wait times to access their preferred content. The social welfare increases when compared to the baseline case under net neutrality when one content provider pays for preferential treatment, but remains unchanged when both content providers pay. We also find that the incentive for the broadband service provider to expand under net neutrality is unambiguously higher than under the no net neutrality regime. This goes against the assertion of the broadband service providers that under net neutrality, they have limited incentive to expand.[1]
1. Cheng, Hsing K., Bandyopadhyay, Subhajyoti and Guo, Hong, "The Debate on Net Neutrality: A Policy Perspective" (January 1, 2007)

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Net Neutrality, Neutrality Blog
Green Party - Bernier Deregulation Reckless
April 7, 2007

A few monopolistic telecommunications firms will make out like bandits, while consumers will lose with worsening service and higher prices - Elizabeth May [1]
The Green Party of Canada in a press release Thursday denounced the Minister of Industry's accellerated deregulation of telecommunications in Canada.
While many supporters of Net Neutrality in Canada also support deregulation, there is no-doubt that the way this Minister is going about the moderization of the telecommunications sector within Canada will do little more than harm consumers and limit fair competition within VoIP, IPTV and other emerging application industries.
Instead of reflecting on the oligopoly that is telecommunications in Canada, the Minister of Industry is siding with the largest of mega-corporations and is ignoring the advice of the CRTC and INDU committee.
It's time Minister, that you allowed the commons to have a say in the future of communications in Canada.
1. Green Party Press Release

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Net Neutrality