The NDP has tabled a bill to legislate net neutrality:

The four-page bill seeks to amend the Telecommunications Act and "prohibit network operators from engaging in network management practises that favour, degrade or prioritise any content, application or service transmitted over a broadband network based on its source, ownership or destination, subject to certain exceptions."

It also looks to prohibit "network operators from preventing a user from attaching any device to their network and requires network operators to make information about the user's access to the internet available to the user."

The proposed bill makes exception for ISPs to manage traffic in reasonable cases, Angus said, such as providing stable speeds for applications such as gaming or video conferencing.

"There are areas where telecoms have to be able to exercise rights, but that doesn't give them the ability to arbitrarily interfere or discriminate," Angus said.

CBC.ca: "Net neutrality bill hits House of Commons"

I know that I've not been a fan of the NDP of late, but they've really done some great work here. This is an important issue that affects the future of democracy and debate in this country and around the world, and the NDP are the only party that has cared enough to do something about it.

Please, read up on net neutrality and then contact your MP to get their support for it. With the combined support of the NDP, the Liberals and the Bloc, the Conservatives will have no choice to let this happen.

And it should happnen.

A lot of people are still lost as to what Net Neutrality is, let alone why it's important. I posted about it a while back, so I won't reiterate here.

What's new and exciting on the Neutrality front however seems to be the brewings of a perfect storm of sorts. Just as the CBC announced plans to release some of it's programming via bittorrent, Rogers decided to put new bandwidth caps on it's downloads, and Bell started throttling bittorrent traffic to all of it's users as well as all of the companies reselling Bell service without their knowledge or consent.

The result is that the general public is finally starting to wake up to the fact that ISP consolidation and their willingness to abuse their power for their own profit might be a problem. More importantly, we're all starting to feel like there might be a solution. Say it with me boys and girls: Regulation.

I just found out today that the an NDP MP is taking up this issue, and the Council of Canadians has issued a press release on the subject. There's also been considerable media coverage on the mess from mainstream sources like The Globe and Mail. Small beginnings to be sure, but you'll forgive me if I'm just a little hopeful :-)

I just read this on Michael Geist's blog and had to share:

Sources indicate that the CBC is set to become the first major North American broadcaster to freely release one of its programs without DRM using BitTorrent. Next Sunday, CBC will air Canada Next Great Prime Minister. The following day, it plans to freely release a high-resolution version via peer-to-peer networks without any DRM restrictions. This development is important not only because it shows that Canada's public broadcaster is increasingly willing to experiment with alternative forms of distribution, but also because it may help crystallise the net neutrality issue in Canada.

The CBC's mandate, as provided in the Broadcasting Act, requires it to make its programming "available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means." Using BitTorrent allows the CBC to meet its statutory mandate, yet with ISPs such as Rogers engaging in non-transparent traffic shaping, millions of Canadians may be unable to fully access programming funded by tax dollars. If the CBC experiment is successful, look for more broadcasters to do the same and for the CRTC to face mounting pressure to address net neutrality concerns.

Ahem, GO CBC!

This post is no longer relevant since CBC has postponed the story to a later date. I'll probably re-post when I hear about it again.

Image found on Popular Science's website.

Colin has been pushing this for a while now and I'm ashamed to say that I haven't given it the attention it deserves. Net Neutrality is one of the most important issues in North America and we're all asleep at the wheel, content to watch our rights disappear because we don't know what we have 'till it's gone.

So lets get "what we have" out in the open.

You're reading this blog because I'm able to publish it and host it for all to see. Regardless of what I might say here, anyone is able to read it regardless of what Internet provider they have. Anyone else can have opposing views on another site somewhere else and their content is just as accessible as mine because the Internet providers, like phone companies, are prohibited from controlling who can see what.

It's infrastructure like this that allows groups like The World Wildlife Fund and The Red Cross to reach out to the general public and propagate information, raise money and affect change. Sites like Livejournal and Google are able to exist because no matter the amount of traffic, the price of disseminating their information remains low as the costs are spread around equally to everyone who uses the Internet. Barack Obama, democratic hopeful for President of the United States, can podcast from his site because the connectivity between he and his supporters remains unbiased, and Linux can be actively developed by programmers around the world because high-speed connections remain cheap enough to download the code they need and get the work done.

This is a good thing, and companies like Telus, Bell, and Rogers want to change it.

They want to change this because frankly, it's more profitable to be able to charge people for "premium" service. The more money you're willing to pay, the more sites you can access. These companies don't care that poor schools can't afford "better" Internet, they only care about money.

Then there's Free Speech. Telus has, in the past restricted access to some sites that criticise their company... because they can. What makes this any different from your electrical company preventing you from using a product they don't want you to use? Standards and level playing fields are good for everyone.

This is a beginning and it's only going to get worse unless someone takes notice. Not one of the major Canadian political parties has taken a position on this issue (not even the Greens or the NDP). Outside of the Environment, the only other "major issue" appears to be bank machine fees... we need our legislators to enshrine net neutrality permanently in Canadian law and we need it done now.

Please write to your MP and ask them to consider the importance of this issue. Write a handwritten letter if you can. For more information, please visit netneutrality.ca or just click on the link I've included at the bottom left side of every page.