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Net Neutrality in Canada - The Fight is On
Published on 25/03/07
by willpate
We’ve watched our brothers to the south in America fight the telco industry for net neutrality, and now the fight is on to keep net neutrality in Canada. Michael Geist has brought to the public’s attention what the current thinking on net neutrality is in front of the Industry Minister, and we’re in trouble. It might as well be straight from one of the telco’s PR flaks themselves. And get this: Rogers and Bell won’t even answer my colleague Amber MacArthur when asked about it!
Over the next while you’re going to hear me, and other bloggers in Canada banging the drum of this issue loudly. We will not roll over while major corporations ruin the most democratizing force, the biggest channel of personal expression and the most powerful enabler of innovation in human history. We cannot count on these major corporations to keep the citizens interests above their own quest for profit. Enron, Worldcom and actions of these very companies in Canada (I will be talking about them soon) have shown us that we must hold their feet to the fire.
I hereby call on my most respected Canadian blogging colleagues to speak up and blog immediately on this issue, we need to hear your voices: Boris Mann, Caterina Fake, Darren Barefoot, Derek K. Miller, Kris Krug, Richard Eriksson, Roland Tanglao, Austin Hill, Rannie Turnigan, Robert Paterson, Michael Fergusson, Tara Hunt, Tod Maffin, Jeremy Wright, Megan Cole, Rob Cottingham, Sarah Pullman, Travis Smith, Troy Angrinon, Brian Lamb, Alexandra Samuel, Robert Scales,
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Comments on Net Neutrality in Canada - The Fight is On
14 Responses
Richard
26/03/07
I accept your challenge. My thoughts fall somewhere in between Joey deVilla’s and Nick Carr’s, but I’ll have something more full length soon.
Rob Cottingham
26/03/07
Count me in!
Rob Paterson
26/03/07
I’m in too
Rob
Rene
26/03/07
I am not a ‘respected’ blogger, but at least I submitted this article to Digg.
Every bit helps I suppose hehe
James Pate
26/03/07
I won’t give them the satisfaction, anything I can do to help, I will.
Sameer Vasta
26/03/07
I’m so in.
Disparishun
26/03/07
Michael Geist has brought to the public’s attention what the CRTC thinks of net neutrality…
No. He has brought to the public’s attention what ministeral briefing notes said about net neutrality.
The CRTC is not the Minister. In fact, the CRTC is independent from the Minister — except that the Minister can table an order to override the CRTC. (That’s happened quite a lot lately).
The CRTC is indeed the forum within which informed debate, in the context of an application, can sway a decision. When only some sides of that debate are informed, on the other hand, then only those sides are able to advocate effectively — and the best decision is correspondingly less likely to result. Get your facts straight.
Will Pate
26/03/07
Disparishun, thanks - I’ve update the post to reflect the innacuracy that you noted. In the interest of transparency, “the CRTC’s stance is…” is now “what the current thinking on net neutrality is in front of the Industry Minister…”
kk
26/03/07
hehe… i’m not canadian but happy to be confused as one and support your efforts here.
Alex Williams
26/03/07
Go, go, Canadians!
Megan Cole
26/03/07
Great post Will - thanks for instigating and challenging all on this… looking forward to tracking all opinions and posts and let the CanCon blog swarm commence!
Steve Campbell
28/03/07
I am almost 51 and have been on the internet since the day Win95 came out. It was the most amazing technology I had ever seen. To think where the internet has developed and then stick a dagger in it with Net Neutrality is a true sin of democracy. Thank you for the awarness.
Will Wants Me to Write About Net Neutrality in Canada | DarrenBarefoot.com
30/03/07
[...] Will Pate is up in arms about the threat to network neutrality in Canada: We will not roll over while major corporations ruin the most democratizing force, the biggest channel of personal expression and the most powerful enabler of innovation in human history. We cannot count on these major corporations to keep the citizens interests above their own quest for profit. Enron, Worldcom and actions of these very companies in Canada (I will be talking about them soon) have shown us that we must hold their feet to the fire. [...]
David Hughes
01/04/07
Just keep in mind we are *for* Net Neutrality, so many people hear it as a buzzword they don’t know whether they should be for or against it.
Think “neutral” as in not being connected to or controlled by one group or another, corporate or not. Control by one group is not the goal, spread it out, keep it distributed with many routes in case part of it goes down.
When you hear Neutral think open and free, distributed, no one entity controlling it. Another way to think of it is wouldn’t it be ridiculous if your phone company insisted on knowing what you were talking about to a friend on the phone? The content is none of their business.
By the way I think getting rid of ICANN and substituting a more International body that isn’t based in one country would be good for preserving Net Neutrality too.
This CBC article explains it very clearly:
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2006/11/02/tech-neutrality.html
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