Canadians debating net neutrality in wake of Bell throttling

"The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is Canada's version of the FCC, and its acronym is just as vowel-free as its US counterpart. It has been the target of a complaint against Bell's tactics brought last week by the National Union of Public and General Employees. The labor labour union complained to CRTC's wonderfully-named boss, Konrad W. von Finckenstein, and demanded a full investigation.

"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," said the NUPGE letter. "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."

In addition, the Campaign for Democratic Media today launched a pressure campaign of its own called "Stop the Throttler." The campaign targets both Bell and Rogers for traffic shaping, pointing out the many legal uses of a technology that is now being adopted by even the biggest of media companies, such as NBC Universal in the US.

"Big Telecom Corporations should not dictate what Canadians access on the Internet," said Campaign for Democratic Media national coordinator Steve Anderson. "These Internet service providers are discriminating against Internet content and services, without any public accountability. The government needs to take action to guarantee equal access to the Internet for all."

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