CRTC net neutrality hearings underway – political solution may be required

Issue will ultimately be a political one with pressure on the Conservatives to join with the Liberals and the NDP in supporting net neutrality.

Gatineau (9 July 2009) – As the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) conducts hearings on network management this week, many are becoming convinced that legislation will ultimately required.

The hearings see Canada’s telecom and cable companies up against consumer, artistic, web content creators, and technology groups over the need for net neutrality.

Noted commentator on Internet and telecommunications policy Michael Geist is concerned that the hearings are not going to resolve the dispute.

“Unfortunately, the questions that followed suggest that the CRTC Commissioners start these hearings having accepted the carriers' claims that congestion is a problem and that inhibiting the use of deep packet inspection could result in increased consumer costs for Internet access.”

He goes on to say that “there is a steep mountain to climb in these hearings, leading me to believe that the issue will ultimately be a political one with pressure on the Conservatives to join with the Liberals and the NDP in supporting net neutrality.”

Battle over who will control the Internet

In March of 2008 the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), among others, asked the CRTC to investigate the throttling practices of Bell Canada. Since then there has been a steadily growing call for the CRTC or the federal government to intervene to protect net neutrality.

In a letter to CRTC Chairman Konrad W. von Finckenstein, national president James Clancy wrote that:

“These Internet Service Providers are, with little or no public accountability, implementing measures that will discriminate against the use of legal software for legitimate uses. This is unacceptable. The potential for violations of the privacy rights of users is clear. The continued silence on these matters by the CRTC and the Canadian government violates the trust the Canadian people have placed in you.

On behalf of the 340,000 members of the National Union I am asking the CRTC to conduct an investigation into those Internet Service Providers who are utilizing these discriminatory practices. Such an investigation should be public and open to input from Canadians.”

Bill on Net Neutrality in House of Commons

New Democratic Party Member of Parliament Charlie Angus has introduced a private members bill on the issue. There are indications that the Liberal Party and Bloc Québécois will support Bill C-398, An Act to amend the Telecommunications Act (Internet neutrality).

When he introduced the legislation into the House, in May of 2009, Angus said that:

“It is very important as Canadians that we maintain the innovation agenda of the Internet. We have known that the importance of the Internet has been based on the principle that all content that moves along the pipes moves at the same rate and that the innovators and the consumers at the end of the pipes are the ones in charge of deciding what content has priority, not the telecom giants. We need to ensure that we are not dealing with the efforts of throttling, interference of traffic on the Internet.

This is a very simple and straightforward bill that would ensure that the telecommunication service provider shall not engage in network management practices that favour, degrade or prioritize any content, application or service transmitted over a broadband network based on its source, ownership, destination or type.”

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE