Archive for Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality Rally In Canada…. They Have A Website Now

Posted in Commentary with tags , on April 30, 2008 by itnerd

The drive to have a Net Neutrality Rally on Parliament Hill on May 15th is gaining steam. Besides a rather lengthy thread on DSLreports.com, there’s now a website active:

http://netneutralityrally.ca/

Take a look. It’s a very interesting read.

One has to wonder how long it will be before angry Internet users in Canada grab their pitchforks and torches too. I say that because you rarely see this sort of organization over an issue in Canada. That means that Canadian Internet users must really be ticked off. The only thing that I can think of that has generated this amount of anger is the negative option billing fiasco that Rogers had a few years ago. Perhaps Rogers and Bell should be paying attention to this?

One thing to note from that website, they have 2 Members of Parliment that are scheduled to show up:

Where’s the rep from the Conservative Party of Canada (who are the sitting Government)? Are they too scared to show? Do they not take this seriously? Do Internet users in Canada not matter enough to them to warrant having a representative there? What about the Bloc Quebecois for that matter? Surely they would love the chance to take a shot at the Conservatives over their handling (or lack thereof) of this issue. I call on both those parties to send a rep to this rally. Canadians would really like to know where your parties stand on this issue.

Update: The date that the rally is taking place on has tentatively changed to May 27th.

CAIP Responds To Bell…. Bell Responds To Primus… Fun Fun Fun

Posted in Commentary with tags , , , , on April 25, 2008 by itnerd

This hasn’t been posted to the CRTC website yet, but P2PNET news has a copy of the Canadian Association Of Internet Providers response to Bell. It’s a long read, but it effectively blows away all of Bell Canada’s bullshit arguments.

Of course I forgot to mention that Bell responded to the Primus submission (warning: DOC attached) a few days ago with the same FUD that they’ve been using lately. One of the things that jumps out at me is this:

“5. The fact is that the wholesale traffic from all of the ISPs who purchase GAS from Bell Canada and Bell Canada’s retail internet traffic travel on the same path across the access and backbone network. The Company’s traffic management solution applies Deep Packet Inspection policies to all upstream and downstream P2P traffic. Therefore, Primus cannot assume there is no need for traffic management measures by simply looking at the amount of traffic transiting through its own AHSSIP and then assuming the capacity of other ISP’s connections. The level of congestion in Bell Canada’s access, transport or core network cannot be assessed at a single point in the network that can be measured by Primus. The “capacity” of Primus’ network beyond the AHSSPI is not relevant to Bell Canada’s traffic management measures that are applied to its shared network.”

So, is Bell actually saying that they are selling non existent products to ISPs in that they do not have the capacity to provide the bandwidth that they sell? That would be quite a bombshell if that were true.

Another thing to note:

“1. Bell Canada (Bell or the Company) is in receipt of a letter dated 15 April 2008 from Primus Telecommunications Inc. (Primus) submitted as an Answer to the Canadian Association of Internet Providers’ (CAIPs’) application of 3 April 2008 against Bell Canada’s network management practices with regard to Bell’s wholesale Internet services. Bell Canada submits that the Primus letter is out of process, and thus should not form part of the record for CAIP’s interim relief request.”

I truly hope that the CRTC denies Bell’s request to not include Primus’ complaint. If they do, Primus should make a separate complaint to the CRTC.

Buckle in. It’s about to get bumpy!

NSFW… Hot Chick Offers To Pop Cherries Of Nerds To Support Net Neutrality

Posted in Commentary with tags , on April 25, 2008 by itnerd

(For those of you who aren’t in the know, NSFW means Not Safe For Work)

In one of the most interesting displays of support for Net Neutrality, Tania Devereaux has announced to the world that she will de-virginize anyone on the condition that they support Net Neutrality. There are some other terms and conditions as well, such as the act must not last for more than 30 minutes (Not a problem. These virgins will likely only last 30 seconds), condoms must be worn, no under-18s, proof that the virgin in question supports net neutrality must be provided, and finally Tania “may deny service for hygiene reasons.”

Wow.

This is not the first time that Ms Devereaux has offered up her orifices services for a good cause. Last year she put 40,000 blowjobs on the negotiating table when she ran for a seat in the Belgian senate, as a protest against other politicians’ claims that they would create 400,000 jobs. Clearly she thought that sucking on a pencil would get voters putting a XXXX in her box.

Canadians Decide To Protest Throttling On Parliament Hill…. Oh My!

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 25, 2008 by itnerd

Canadians are usually such polite people and they almost never protest anything to any great degree. So things must really have hit a boiling point to make a group led by Teksavvy CEO Rocky Gaudrault decide to descend onto Parliament Hill on May 15 to protest the throttling policies of Bell, Rogers, et al. If they get a good crowd something good may come out of it. By a good crowd, I mean a few hundred people at the very least as the 6PM news shows will only care if it looks like a “big” protest. Still, anytime Canadians decide to protest something, you have to take notice. The question is, will the CRTC and politicians (like Industry Minister Jim Prentice for example) take notice?

CRTC To Debate Bell’s Throttling Nonsense

Posted in Commentary with tags , on April 23, 2008 by itnerd

This is a step in the right direction. The Ottawa Citizen is reporting that the CRTC will begin deliberations tomorrow to determine if Bell’s throttling of independent ISP’s should stop immediately until government policy is set.

This is amazing for those who have fought this issue from day one. It means that the CRTC takes this issue seriously as opposed to simply blowing it off (which is what many feared that the CRTC would do). The only fly in the ointment is that anything that the CRTC does may go against a 1999 ruling that states they would not regulate the Internet:

“By not regulating, we hope to support the growth of new media services in Canada,” said Françoise Bertrand, then the CRTC’s chair.”

That could pose a problem, but let’s hope they find a way to sort that out.

While there’s still miles to go in this battle, this is a significant victory for those who want net neutrality in Canada.

CRTC ‘Inundated’ With Throttling Calls, E-mails.

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 22, 2008 by itnerd

Seems like Internet users in Canada are just a wee bit upset at Bell, Rogers, et al. According to this article, the CRTC is getting hundreds of calls and e-mails about the throttling issue. Seeing as Canadians rarely get this upset, Bell, Rogers, et al should really take notice that the public are really ticked at them.

In the meantime, keep up the pressure. The fight for freedom on the Internet has just started.

Tim Berners-Lee Talks About Net Neturality – Eveyone Listen Up!

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 21, 2008 by itnerd

So you’re likely asking who is Tim Berners-Lee. The answer is that he’s one of the guys who invented the Internet by inventing the World Wide Web. So if he says something, you should listen. He’s talking about Net Neutrality on his blog and he’s got some very interesting things to say:

“Yes, regulation to keep the Internet open is regulation. And mostly, the Internet thrives on lack of regulation. But some basic values have to be preserved. For example, the market system depends on the rule that you can’t photocopy money. Democracy depends on freedom of speech. Freedom of connection, with any application, to any party, is the fundamental social basis of the Internet, and, now, the society based on it.”

Bell, Rogers, Comacst, and anybody else who is dumb enough to throttle applications that they don’t like should pay attention. And I REALLY mean they should pay attention. So should the general public, and the politicians too. Let’s start with Industry Minister Jim Prentice here in Canada.

FCC Holds Net Neutrality Hearings… Comcast Ducks It

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on April 18, 2008 by itnerd

The FCC held its en banc hearings into Net Neutrality on Thursday at Stanford University. Oddly, Comacast was a no show at this hearing. Perhaps it’s because they didn’t want to answer questions about the stunt that they pulled at the last round of hearings where they tried to put people into seats to keep out their opponents? Who knows. But it was a good hearing because you got a lot of viewpoints on both sides of the issue. For example, Robb Topolski, the software engineer who ignited controversy around Comcast’s disruption of BitTorrent peer-to-peer traffic, made BitTorrent users everywhere happy by giving his side of the story:

“Consumers were harmed when (Comcast) decided it would do something secretive and non-standard on the Internet,” Topolski said, referring to Internet service provider’s use of so-called reset tags to disrupt the transfer of large files from BitTorrent. The situation continues today. It has not stopped, despite all the wonderful agreements between BitTorrent and Comcast. I’m a ham radio operator. And Comcast is jamming authorized communication (on the Internet). I ask that before you leave today you signal your intent to stop these interferences.”

Meanwhile Rick Carnes of Songwriters Guild of America said that ISPs should be able to manage traffic on their networks and filter the transfer of pirated content:

“If regulation is to be considered, which we hope it isn’t, than illegal file-sharing should be at the top of the agenda.”

Gee. That sounds a bit like “Big Brother” does it not?

The quote I like is the one from FCC Commissioner Michael Copps:

“While we’re debating, the industry is using that time to decide on what will be the future of the Internet.”

That my friends is 100% true. Time to start doing something.

Charlie Angus Calls Out Industry Minister In Open Letter

Posted in Commentary with tags , on April 17, 2008 by itnerd

NDP Member of Parliament Charlie Angus has clearly become sick of Industry Minister Jim Prentice doing nothing about the net neutrality issue. So he’s written an open letter to him asking him to do something sooner rather than later. In the letter, he writes among other things:

“In order to ensure consumer confidence, it is incumbent upon the CRTC to examine the issue of traffic management to ensure that such interventions are not used as a convenient cover to price-gouge consumers or to degrade the quality of their competitors’ services.”

and:

“I am urging you to adopt the recommendations of the Telecommunications Review Panel in order to send a clear signal that Canada has a plan going forward to ensure continued development of internet technologies and fairness for consumers.”

Now the only question is will the Industry Minister respond. Seeing as he has proven to be completely ineffective in terms of dealing with this issue, I’m not holding my breath. Perhaps Prime Minister Steven Harper should replace him with someone with a bit more backbone if the Conservative Party is truly serious about ensuring a free market exists. Clearly Prentice isn’t serious about that as he is just paying lip service to the issue.

Primus To CRTC: Stop The Bell Throttling

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on April 17, 2008 by itnerd

Primus has joined the fray in trying to stop Bell Canada from throttling its wholesale customers. In the filing that was posted today (warning: PDF attached) they make the following points:

  • They request the CRTC at least for the interim order that Bell turn the throttling off. This is a really great move as CRTC could (and would) simply let Bell Canada continue throttling while this process continues.
  • Point 12 is a key point – Market forces alone cannot address the competitive impact Bell is unilaterally imposing on wholesalers. For example, prior to throttling ISPs could offer different offerings than Bell by doing things like Teksavvy has done with their “Preminum” DSL service. This made them more attractive than Bell (not to mention Rogers). The throttling has basically leveled the playing field.

Hopefully the CRTC takes those points into account before they slap Bell silly.