Canada Announces Their Version Of Net Neutrality
The CRTC [Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission], the Canadian version of the US FCC, has issued a net neutrality ruling.
Their version is a “truth in advertising” path. The big telcos have to tell individuals 30 days in advance of any price changes, and the wholesalers [ISPs & hosting companies] 60 days in advance, with the changes displayed prominently on their web sites. They may use throttling and other network management tools only if they can show that that they can’t manage their network any other way, and they are open about what they are doing.
Well, that’s a FAIL. Needless to say, Rogers and Bell, the big telcos in Canada, are the only ones happy about this. This approach can only work if there is competition, and with only two companies who generally do not have overlapping areas of infrastructure, there is no competition. In addition, it shifts the onus of proving that the telcos are violating the ruling to the users, who lack the resources to effectively bring action against the telcos.
In case you were wondering, the Conservative Party is currently in charge of the government of Canada,
