Canada Rushes To Defend Net Neutrality As The U.S. Moves To Dismantle It

Tech Dirt ^ | 25 April 2017 | Karl Bode

[Lorianne]

from the who-needs-a-healthy,-working-internet-anyway? dept

Here in the States, regulators and Congress are preparing to gut our existing net neutrality rules -- replacing them with the policy equivalent of wet tissue paper. In Canada, regulators are taking the complete opposite tack, last week cementing the country's net neutrality rules as some of the most comprehensive in the world.

After years of some obnoxious behavior by Canadian ISPs like Rogers, Canadian regulators adopted guidelines back in 2009 that prevent ISPs from blocking websites, while requiring that they're transparent about network management. In 2013, those guidelines were expanded to cover zero rating after Ben Klass, a graduate student in telecommunications, filed a complaint with the CRTC over zero rating. Specifically, Klass and his co-filers noted that Bell had begun exempting its own streaming video service from the company's usage caps, thereby putting smaller streaming competitors at a notable disadvantage.

While many people (especially here in the states) continue to labor under the misconception that zero rating gives them something for free, Klass rather concisely broke down why this was a problem in a blog post at the time:

"To figure out exactly what’s going on, I compared the price Bell charges for 5 gigabytes of mobile TV data to the least expensive data-only plan that lets you watch 5GB of Netflix without going over your cap (it’s called the “Tablet Flex” plan). It turns out that Bell charges you $5 a month to watch 5GB worth of their own content. If you want to watch 5GB worth of Netflix on the Bell network, on the other hand, they charge you $40. That’s a markup of 800%."

[Candor7]

Its not all about the money, its about freedom of speech and truth.

[Whenifhow]

See similar article at post 2 on the thread below.

FCC Chair: ‘Hysterical Prophecies’ Led Dems To Almost Break The Internet In Just Two Years
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3548005/posts

[mrsmith]

Of course. No way a small country like Canada can stand up to the wealth and power of Google, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook, Netflix...

[Nateman]

I have to give the RATS credit for their marketing ploy of Net Neutrality. How does one get grubby government hands to control something that has been so free and successful? If I was an up and coming tyrant the task would have vexed me ! Being the mastermind tyrants that they are the RATS managed to concoct this deliberately confusing stratagem of tyranny and bring it into the mainstream. Their cleverness must make Satan proud of his servants!

[familyop]

Americans don’t want to watch Trailer Park Boys anyway (very disgusting and boring TV series).

[familyop]

Anyone thinking they might want to watch Trailer Park Boys, BTW, should watch the American movie, “The Baytown Outlaws,” instead. Or “Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil.”

[Organic Panic]

....because NAMBLA should be forced to have the same bandwidth as Netflix

[Buckeye McFrog]

Klass and his co-filers noted that Bell had begun exempting its own streaming video service from the company's usage caps, thereby putting smaller streaming competitors at a notable disadvantage.

Seems to me such issues can be dealt with through existing antitrust law.