Our internet safe for now

[Walter Dnes]

ISPs not broadcasters, court finds

> Creative groups have argued that internet service providers should
> contribute to Canadian content creation, the same way traditional
> television broadcasters do.
> 
> The Federal Court of Appeal has rejected the notion that internet
> service providers are broadcasters, likely ending a plan to introduce
> a new levy on internet users to pay for the creation of Canadian
> content online.
> 
> The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in
> June asked the court to decide whether ISPs could be governed under
> the Broadcast Act, which would therefore require them to contribute to
> the creation of Canadian programming, as traditional broadcasters do.

  More details at...  
http://www.cbc.ca/m/rich/politics/story/2010/07/07/isp-broadcasting-court-appeal.html

  I hereby pronounce "Walter's Law"...
  A sure sign of a failing business model is when a business group asks
for an internet tax to support their business.

  An interesting side-effect of this decision is that it was based on
the assumption that ISPs are "dumb pipes".  If an ISP attempts to set up
a "walled garden", they might be considered broadcasters, along with all
the regulatory baggage that entails..

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org>
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