Net Neutrality
The deadline for submissions to the CRTC on the issue of net neutrality are due Monday. If you care about this issue, you should make a submission to them before then. The easy way to do this is to go though the site at http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/crtc_submission. They have a sample letter you can edit to suit your thoughts and an easy web form for submissions.
If you're unaware of what net neutrality is, it's the fight to prevent ISPs from performing data specific data shaping. IE slowing down some sorts of packets more then others. If you believe the big business ISP (Bell, Rogers, Shaw) they will tell you that they have to shape the data or the Internet will implode. But they refuse to provide solid numbers to prove it and what numbers they have provided the CRTC suggest that nothing of the sort will occur. The less paranoid are concerned that this will make Canada a backwater of the internet. That by allowing the ISPs to pick which applications get good access to the internet and which do not threatens to stifle innovation in Canada. The more paranoid point out that many of the protocols currently being throttled are mostly used to compete with other services these companies already offer (IE Skype vs a phone, BitTorrent vs tv etc.)
The CRTC is currently holding hearings on a couple of Internet issues including Net Neutrality. The CRTC has ruled in favour of the ISPs in the past (ruling last year that Bell had the right to shape the traffic of smaller ISPs who rented bandwidth from Bell, despite the fact that many of the ISPs had attracted customers with promises of no shaping). Many Canadians have already written the commission but more voiced can't hurt.
For more information you can check out...
http://saveournet.ca/
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3683/125/
http://www.cbc.ca/searchengine/
If you're unaware of what net neutrality is, it's the fight to prevent ISPs from performing data specific data shaping. IE slowing down some sorts of packets more then others. If you believe the big business ISP (Bell, Rogers, Shaw) they will tell you that they have to shape the data or the Internet will implode. But they refuse to provide solid numbers to prove it and what numbers they have provided the CRTC suggest that nothing of the sort will occur. The less paranoid are concerned that this will make Canada a backwater of the internet. That by allowing the ISPs to pick which applications get good access to the internet and which do not threatens to stifle innovation in Canada. The more paranoid point out that many of the protocols currently being throttled are mostly used to compete with other services these companies already offer (IE Skype vs a phone, BitTorrent vs tv etc.)
The CRTC is currently holding hearings on a couple of Internet issues including Net Neutrality. The CRTC has ruled in favour of the ISPs in the past (ruling last year that Bell had the right to shape the traffic of smaller ISPs who rented bandwidth from Bell, despite the fact that many of the ISPs had attracted customers with promises of no shaping). Many Canadians have already written the commission but more voiced can't hurt.
For more information you can check out...
http://saveournet.ca/
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3683/125/
http://www.cbc.ca/searchengine/