INDEPENDENT MEDIA by Steve Anderson
Canada has an internet “openness and access deficit.” That was the starting point for OpenMedia.ca’s “Casting an Open Net” report published earlier this year. The report noted three disturbing practices employed by several of Canada’s dominant Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
1. Many Canadian ISPs (Bell, Rogers, Shaw) selectively limit access to certain online services in a practice known as “throttling” or slowing down of Internet traffic. This renders certain services almost unusable, as expressed in the recent complaint to the CRTC against Rogers for throttling “World of Warcraft,” a popular online game.
2. Cable television and mobile providers are offering limited and controlled versions of the Internet over television and mobile devices, either by providing special priority access to certain services such as Facebook (in the case of mobile providers) or by providing web services via cable television. These take resources (in the form of either users or bandwidth) away from the open, public Internet that has been the engine of innovation.
3. Big ISPs have been imposing usage-based billing (UBB) that features low usage caps and high per-use prices inconsistent with global standards. This discriminates against bandwidth-heavy activities such as online video consumption and distribution, online gaming and web development. When ISPs apply these costs, while exempting their own media services (video-on-demand or IPTV) from the caps, they stack the cards in their favour in a way that compromises the open and democratic nature of the Internet.
Taken together, these activities clearly stifle innovation, free expression and new opportunities for participatory democracy. However, with this year’s exponential growth of pro-Internet community, most visible via the StopTheMeter.ca campaign, the big ISPs appear to be losing their grip on Canada’s Internet. This year, every major political party has come out against the punitive internet metering schemes (usage based billing) that ISPs are trying to impose on Canadians. What’s more, commissioners at the CRTC, the regulator of the telecommunications industry, are showing signs that action is required to stop big telecom price gouging and to also ensure Canadians have affordable access to the Internet.
Alas, the big phone and cable companies are not giving up without a fight. In fact, they’re gobbling down in greed. These companies are raising prices across the board while they still can and trying to cozy up to policymakers: Bell has just appointed former Industry Minister Jim Prentice as a board member and Telus has done the same with former Conservative MP Stockwell Day.
Big Telecom’s appointment of these key cabinet ministers reeks of patronage and backroom dealings. The tide has turned against Big Telecom and it now appears to be willing to cheat to hold on to its control of the telecom market and your wallet.
For the time being, big telecom continues to outspend Canadians by investing a portion of its gouge-secured profits in maintaining its dominance. In essence, big ISPs are gouging internet users and using our hard-earned money to pay for an army of lawyers, lobbyists and expensive board appointments.
To undo this system of telecom market control, we’ll need to expand upon what allowed the pro-internet community to successfully push back against big telecom earlier this year. Our success resulted from a broad collaboration of a network of people and organizations that drew a line in the sand when big telecom decided it was appropriate to add new usage fees to our bills. As Parliament gets underway, it’s time to scale up our efforts. Get involved at www.openmedia.ca/engage.
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Steve Anderson is the national coordinator for the Campaign for Democratic Media. He has written for The Tyee, Toronto Star, Epoch Times and Adbusters.
steve@democraticmedia.ca
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