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CRTC ruling cripples small ISPs, says MP

The competitiveness of third-party internet service providers will be crippled, said NDP MP Charlie Angus in response to a recent decision made by the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission concerning Internet throttling, a term used

The competitiveness of third-party internet service providers will be crippled, said NDP MP Charlie Angus in response to a recent decision made by the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission concerning Internet throttling, a term used to describe traffic-shaping measures employed by ISPs to ensure networks do not become bogged down with traffic.

Several internet service providers, who resold internet access through Bell, filed complaints with the CRTC after it was discovered  subscribers were being throttled by the larger company. They were backed by Internet-based companies Google and Skype.

Internet traffic-shaping measures, like throttling, essentially place Internet traffic into two lanes, a fast lane and a slow lane. Users who engage in peer to peer (P2P) traffic — sharing movies, television shows, and music — will have slower traffic than those who engage in general surfing, game play, and e-mail usage.

Bell said it has the right to control traffic on its networks, and that P2P applications have be throttled as they slowed traffic for everyone by using more bandwidth. After several public sessions and review of data provided by Bell, the CRTC agreed.

The CRTC ruled that providers like Bell should first rely on "economic measures" to limit the amount of bandwidth a subscriber can use before engaging in traffic throttling. The approach is the most transparent as its impact turns up on monthly bills paid by customers, as they would be charged for the use of excess bandwidth.

"Technical means to manage traffic, such as traffic shaping, should only be employed as a last resort," said the CRTC in a statement.

The CRTC also noted that customers must be given 30 days notice before traffic shaping occurs, and that third-party providers must be given a 60 day notice before their customers are throttled.

MP Charlie Angus of the Timmins-James Bay riding, and NDP digital affairs critic, said the decision is bad news for small third-party competitors and leaves consumers subject to digital snooping and interference from cable giants.

"Basically, the CRTC has left the wolves in charge of the henhouse. ISP giants have been given the green light to shape traffic on the Internet in favour of the corporate interests," said Angus in a press release. "The decision is a huge blow to the future competitiveness of the Internet."

Angus said the premise of the CRTC's decision — that throttling notification from an ISP will allow customers to choose which ISP to subscribe to — misses the “harsh reality” that Canada's Internet market is not competitive enough for the decision to work, as there aren't many options to switch to if a customer's service is too slow.

"Canada has fallen to the back of the pack in Internet service provision and pricing, after leading the way for years. This is the direct result of a small band of ISP giants blocking out competition," said Angus.

Two separate studies by the Saïd School of Business at Oxford University and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University found that Canada lagged behind other countries in accessible Internet options, while a report by Giganomics, funded by Canada's largest ISPs, found the exact opposite.

"The decision clears the way for ISPs to squeeze out third-party players who are attempting to provide better price and service options," said Angus.

The Federal Communicatons Commission (FCC), in the United States, recently ruled on "Internet neutrality," a term used to describe the control of access to the Internet, and essentially decided in the opposite direction from the CRTC's choice. Angus said he believes the CRTC has missed a golden opportunity with the decision.

"The principle of net neutrality must be a cornerstone of the innovation agenda,” Angus continuned.

“The CRTC has once again acted as the rubber stamp for large ISP and cable players to dominate the market and decide which traffic goes in the fast lane and which traffic gets stuck in the slow lane. This decision continues a long and dismal tradition of Canada's communication policy decisions chipping away at the public interest to the benefit of a few corporate giants."



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