Net neutrality and Canada

[Meng Cheah]

 From the Toronto Star by Michael Geist,
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/180608

Excerpts:

Bernier's willingness to parrot the corporate line became glaringly 
apparent last week when internal government documents obtained under the 
Access to Information Act indicated that he is skeptical about the need 
for legislative safeguards to ensure that all Canadians enjoy equal and 
unfettered access to Internet content and applications by avoiding a 
two-tier Internet.

Those safeguards, widely referred to as net neutrality legislation, were 
featured in a government-commissioned report on telecom reform released 
last year.

It recommended that Canada introduce legal protections to "confirm the 
right of Canadian consumers to access publicly available Internet 
applications and content of their choice by means of all public 
telecommunications networks providing access to the Internet."

The need to prevent a two-tier Internet in Canada has never been 
greater. The Canadian competitive landscape is dominated by a handful of 
companies, with the top five providers controlling 84 per cent of 
Canadian Internet connections. Indeed, Canadian consumers who have 
access to broadband networks (many communities are still without access) 
invariably face steady price increases and service limitations from the 
indistinguishable choice between cable and DSL.

Leveraging their dominant positions, Canadian telecommunications 
companies have been embroiled in a growing number of incidents involving 
content or application discrimination.

Over the past two years, Telus blocked access to hundreds of websites 
during a dispute with its labour union, Shaw attempted to levy 
surcharges for Internet telephony services, Rogers quietly limited 
bandwidth for legitimate peer-to-peer software applications, and 
Videotron mused publicly about establishing a new Internet transmission 
tariff that would require content creators to pay millions for the 
privilege of transmitting their content.

The government documents uncovered last week confirm that Bernier is 
aware of the situation. One prepared for the House of Commons Question 
Period notes that "Canadian telecommunications companies, like Bell and 
Telus, are increasingly determined to play a greater role in how 
Internet content is delivered. As the carriers of the content, they 
believe they should be gatekeepers of the content, with the freedom to 
impose fees for their role."

Despite publicly maintaining that he is undecided on the issue, another 
document leaves little doubt that net neutrality legislation is not in 
the cards for Canada. A Question and Answer memorandum dated Nov. 16, 
2006, asks about Bernier's position on net neutrality.

Echoing the position of the major telecommunications companies, the 
response concludes, "market forces have served Canadians well when it 
comes to the Internet. Public policy must consider a number of aspects 
of this broad issue, including consumer protection and choice [and] 
enabling market forces to continue to shape the evolution of the 
Internet infrastructure, investment and innovation to the greatest 
extent feasible."

Bernier's unquestioned faith in the market on the net neutrality issue 
places him and his government at odds not only with concerns of millions 
of Canadian Internet users but also with the emerging approach in the 
United States.

After reports of the internal government position on net neutrality 
leaked out, Bloc MP Paul Crête raised the issue last Wednesday in the 
House of Commons, asking Bernier to commit to the principle of net 
neutrality. Bernier declined to do so, instead citing a recent 
Ipsos-Reid public opinion poll that he said demonstrated that 75 per 
cent of Quebec residents support his plans for telecom reform.

In addition to mistaking polls for policies, Bernier did not mention 
that only 14 per cent of respondents were even aware of the government's 
telecom policy changes and that the survey made no mention of Internet 
access issues.

More tellingly, he also neglected to reveal that it was Bell Canada that 
commissioned the survey.

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Well worth reading in full, my 2 cents :-)

Meng Cheah
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