Stop the Propaganda / Feed the Truth » Net Neutrality

Bell moves to limit internet downloads of competitor ISPs

Stop the Propaganda — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:58:04 +0000

(CBC.ca) - Bell Canada Inc. is moving to impose download limits on customers of independent internet providers, an act the smaller firms say is designed to eliminate broadband competition and prevent the introduction of new television services. The Montreal-based company, which cut its own Sympatico customers off from unlimited downloading last year, has proposed extending that [...]

Bell’s internet throttling is like reading people’s mail, ISPs say

Stop the Propaganda — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:12:14 +0000

The CBC reports on the CAIP's final response to Bell in the throttling case.

Bell’s internet throttling illegal, Google says

Stop the Propaganda — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:56:31 +0000

Just when you thought nobody was listening about Net Neutrality - the search engine giant Google Inc. steps up to the plate and throws a Bell a legal hard ball. What do you think? (CBC) - Google Inc. says Bell Canada Inc. is breaking Canadian telecommunications law by slowing certain internet traffic, and is urging the CRTC [...]

The CRTC should stop Bell Canada’s throttling and hold a Public Hearing

Steve Anderson — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:48:33 +0000

CIPPIC has made a submission on behalf of the Campaign for Democratic Media (“CDM”) and in support of the “SaveOurNet.ca” coalition that is currently forming around issues including that raised by CAIP in this proceeding.

Groups Ask CRTC for Public Proceeding Examining P2P Throttling

Steve Anderson — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:34:43 +0000

Issue Goes Well Beyond Current Dispute Involving CAIP and Bell

July 3, 2008

The Campaign for Democratic Media (CDM) today called upon the CRTC to initiate a public proceeding to examine the discriminatory traffic-shaping policies of Canada’s facilities-based Internet Service Providers. CDM issued the call in a submission to the CRTC in support of the Canadian Alliance of Internet Service Provider’s (CAIP) application to have Bell cease and desist from its throttling of P2P internet traffic.

Canada must adopt legislation to stop Bell Canada from shortchanging the public, says coalition

The Council of Canadians - Media Releases — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:48:34 +0000

The Campaign for Democratic Media! is outraged at Bell Canada's recent announcement that it will begin throttling Internet service providers (ISPs) starting April 7 - a policy uncovered and made official after Canadian ISPs realized they were being shortchanged by the telecommunications giant which had begun selectively limiting the ISPs' bandwidth.

Net Neutrality and Education

Robert Hester — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:22:02 +0000

Jeff Rybak makes the case for network neutrality from an education perspective:

Net Neutrality protects the availability and the independence of free education. Without principles of Net Neutrality, education available on-line may either be crippled at the whim of those controlling the infrastructure of the ‘net, or else be forced to partner with huge corporations in order to survive. Even if we believe, for a moment, in the benevolence of large corporations and assume that they’ll give a break to do-gooder efforts, this still requires educators to get in bed with corporations. And no one should ever be comfortable with that – certainly not as a requirement to simply function.

Read Jeff's full post: http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2008/06/25/net-neutrality-and-educ...

Sandvine calls net neutrality “laughable,” defends filtering

Robert Hester — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:29:21 +0000

David Caputo, CEO of Sandvine Deep Packet Inspection ("DPI") technology, insists,"it's going to be laughable in the next two or three years that people used to say all packets should be treated equally."

What to do with the Spectrum surplus?

Robert Hester — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:22:33 +0000

It was recently pointed out by Michael Geist that the Federal Government's spectrum auction will rake in an extra $2.5 billion over the $1.5 billion expected to be generated.

Three options were offered by Geist: fund education programs for the upcoming anti-spam and data-breach legislative initiatives; stimulate municipal wifi access projects; and/or commit to a national broadband strategy to ensure all Canadians have access to high-speed networks.

A fourth option is to spend a fraction of the $2.5 on a public consultation focused on the issues of network neutrality...

Competition Bureau says ‘net regulation Must be addressed

Robert Hester — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:08:48 +0000

Today the head of Canada's Competition Bureau, Sheridan Scott, said that the time for addressing the topic of internet regulation is now. "The developments raise the urgency of a question that public policy has been tip-toeing around for a decade or more, but which we now have to confront head-on: should the government regulate the Internet?"

Ms. Scott professed her own weariness about about government intervention, worrying that it would add costs and administrative complexities for companies and stated that she would put her confidence in the market. But she also pointed to Industry Canada's ongoing auction of wireless spectrum as a model for policy makers who wish to engage in market intervention. She noted that Industry Canada had clear objectives for setting aside a portion of the spectrum for newcomers: greater competition, more innovation, better services and more choice.

The current broadband climate is ripe for a similar intervention--the competition for broadband and cellphone service providers in Canada is not robust. Industry Canada recognized that measures were needed to level the playing field in the cellphone market, and acted by reserving 40% of the spectrum for bidding newcomers only.

But in the context of internet provision, the situation is complicated by the fact that Canadian consumers care just as much about competition in the area of content provision as they do for how much they will pay the ISP for access to it.

Leaving the carriers to control the pipes, throttling as they see fit, will prohibit that competition from realizing the very market forces Ms. Scott has trumpeted today.

Source article

Conservative Blogger: Net Neutrality v. Internet Payola

tkarr — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:27:40 +0000

NPR’s Brian Lehrer today found that there is an issue in 2008, on which many from both the left and the right agree. It happens about 23 minutes into an interview with Glenn Reynolds of right-leaning blog Instapundit.com and Adam Green of the progressive MoveOn.org Civic Action. Lehrer had focused the topic on the Internet [...]

Copps Introduces Plan for Internet Freedom

tkarr — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:54:54 +0000

As hard as it may be for some to believe, last Saturday night an FCC commissioner was transformed into an Internet superstar. Copps at NCMR Twitter traffic of Commissioner Michael Copps’ speech in Minneapolis on Saturday rocketed to the top of the popular network — garnering more mentions than “Obama,” “Clinton,” “Big Brown” and all other [...]

Rogers admits to violating net neutrality

Stop the Propaganda — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:18:33 +0000

(DigitalHome.ca) - In a meeting held yesterday, that was restricted to only select members of the media, Rogers Communications admitted that it violated the principle of net neutrality by arbitrarily interfering with customer’s internet communications. READ MORE HERE [ Source: DigitalHome.ca ] ©2008 Stop the Propaganda / Feed the Truth. All Rights Reserved..

Virgin Media to spy on and threaten downloaders

Robert Hester — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:13:07 +0000

"Virgin Media -- the UK's largest cable-modem provider -- has decided that it will spy on its users to protect the record industry. It is sending out letters to thousands of customers warning them that infringement has been detected on their network connections"

Read the rest at BoingBoing

Net Neutrality Squad Offers Network Measurement Tool to Detects Reset Packets

Robert Hester — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 19:13:33 +0000

"If you think your ISP is sniffing packets, or worse yet, sending reset packets to stop torrents, there's now a beta Network Measurement Tool to detect them, courtesy of Lauren Weinstein of the Net Neutrality Squad. It's released under the LGPL, and runs under Win2K, XP, and Vista..."
Read the rest at Slashdot

ACTION ALERT: Demand net neutrality now

Stop the Propaganda — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:21:23 +0000

(Council of Canadians) - As recently reported by various news outlets, Bell Canada plans to have its ‘third-party ISP traffic shaping’ policy implemented across its entire network by April 7. This policy is more accurately referred to as ‘throttling’, or the practice of shaping Internet traffic by selectively limiting bandwidth. READ MORE HERE [ Source: Council [...]

Your Internet: Open or Closed?

tkarr — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:52:13 +0000

During a Friday briefing in the chambers of the House Commerce Committee Tim Wu, Ben Scott, Marvin Ammori, Jef Pearlman and Markham Erickson laid out the central struggle in our campaign to save a free-flowing Internet. Neutrality v. Monopoly At stake is whether the Internet will be open, neutral and accessible to all or a closed [...]

Comcast’s Closed Internet

caaron — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:15:07 +0000

The FCC investigation of Comcast’s violations of Net Neutrality is in full swing. Thousands of activists have weighed in, and on Wednesday Free Press and its allies in the SavetheInternet.com Coalition filed extensive research and a lengthy legal analysis of what Comcast is doing (if you have been following the issue closely, you should enjoy [...]

Internet Bill a Blow to the Gatekeepers

tkarr — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:27:28 +0000

Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) today launched the latest salvo in the struggle to keep the Internet free from gatekeepers with the introduction of the “Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008” (HR 5353). The bipartisan bill protects Net Neutrality under the Communications Act and calls for a nationwide conversation to set policy about [...]

Comcast’s New Terms of Service: A Recipe for Discrimination

Marvin Ammori — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:07:22 +0000

Comcast’s new “terms of service,” which were quietly issued last week, remove any doubt about who the cable and broadband giant is looking out for — and it’s not the customer. On Jan. 25, the company released its “revised and effective” terms for Internet users with lots of restrictions and new limitations — but little [...]

A Bid for Cleaner, More Open Airwaves

tkarr — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:04:06 +0000

Yesterday, the air that surrounds us became cleaner in a way. The bidding on licenses to a chunk of the wireless spectrum hit its $4.6 billion minimum — triggering a set of open access conditions that will allow wireless Internet users to connect any device or application using these airwaves. The Mobile Web: Open or Closed? This [...]