Media News Post

Harper government sides with big telecom companies

Industry Minister Jim Prentice refuses to step into controversy over Internet 'traffic shaping'

by: NUPGE

Ottawa (3 April 2008): The Harper government has apparently decided to let big Canadian telecommunications companies manipulate Internet traffic by 'shaping' the flow of data as they see fit.

Industry Minister Jim Prentice refused Wednesday in the House of Commons to take any stand on the issue, promising only to monitor the issue. Read more »

Bell Canada Seeks Death Blow For Indie ISPs

by: Karl

With third-party ISPs now unable to offer unthrottled service, Bell Canada now looks to achieve what U.S. incumbents have: total freedom from pesky, independent ISP competition through government lobbying. According to the CBC, Bell Canada is asking the courts to scrap mandated access by competitors to its citizenry-funded network. Read more »

It’s up to you: Prentice to Canadians on traffic throttling

by: p2pnet news

Industry minister Jim Prentice (right) has told Canadians it’s up to them if they want to do anything about the Net traffic throttling imposed by the major ISPs.

‘Shaping’ removes any chance of Net neutrality for customers, and seriously reduces bandwidth, particularly for people using P2P applications. Read more »

Policing internet 'not ISP's job'

by: BBC News

The head of one of Britain's biggest internet providers has criticised the music industry for demanding that he act against pirates.

The trade body for UK music, the BPI, asked internet service providers to disconnect people who ignore requests to stop sharing music.
But Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse, which runs the TalkTalk broadband service, is refusing.
He said it is not his job to be an internet policeman. Read more »

NEW RULES ARE NEEDED TO PROTECT NET NEUTRALITY: Throttling net traffic sets dangerous precedent

by: Charlie Angus

The NDP is calling on Industry Minister Jim Prentice to establish clear ground rules to limit the interference of telecommunication giants in consumer’s use of the internet. NDP spokesman for Copyright and Digital Issues, Charlie Angus, made the call following revelations that Bell Canada is throttling the ability of third party internet service providers (ISPs) to offer high bandwidth access to its consumers. Read more »

Bell irks ISPs with new throttling policy

by: Matt Hartley

Rocky Gaudrault wants Bell Canada to take its hands off his customers' data.

The chief executive officer of Teksavvy Solutions Inc., an Internet service provider (ISP) based in Chatham, Ont., says a new plan from Bell to "manage" the Internet traffic on his network is compromising the service he offers his customers. Read more »