Reports today indicate that Telus is currently blocking access to Voices for Change, a website run by the Telecommunications Workers Union. The company has confirmed that its nearly one million subscribers are blocked from accessing the site, though it is obviously available to just about everyone else (and presumably to […]
Post Tagged with: "voip"
Shaw Charging for VoIP Quality of Service Enhancement
Mark Evans of the National Post reports this morning (subscription required) that Primus says that its VoIP offering has been subject to spotty service from Shaw, a leading cable provider in B.C. and Alberta.
The Wrong Analogy, More on the CRTC VoIP Decision
My regular Law Bytes column (freely available linked version, Toronto Star version, homepage version) focuses on the CRTC’s VoIP decision. I begin by noting that when the Internet burst onto the public stage in the mid 1990s, legal scholars initially relied on analogies to identify an appropriate legal framework. Likening the Internet to the "Law of the Sea" or the "Law of Outer Space, their hope was that an existing body of law would provide a ready made solution to the Internet’s inevitable legal challenges. The approach failed, however, as the complexity of the Internet, as well as the genuinely novel issues it raised, rendered each successive proposal unsatisfactory.
CRTC Adopts Strong Regulatory Approach in VoIP Decision
The CRTC issued its much anticipated VoIP decision earlier today. Much to the chagrin of the major telcos, the Commission has adopted a strong regulatory approach. While it exempts P2P VoIP providers such as Skype, the traditional providers face a VoIP framework that looks a lot like the current local regulatory framework.
The Commission reasons that for consumers, local VoIP service looks a lot like (and is marketed like) traditional local phone service. Accordingly, the Commission has set a regulatory framework that addresses everything from reseller registration to phone directory listings to privacy protection.
Up to this point, I’d argue that Commission is on solid ground. Robust competition requires a level playing field and ensuring that all providers can offer equivalent services that consumers rely upon may require regulatory intervention of this kind.
Will Canadian Cultural Policy Survive in the Age of the Internet?
Professor Geist’s weekly Toronto Star Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, HTML backup article, homepage version) examines several recent Canadian legal developments including CRTC hearings on satellite radio and VoIP, a Quebec court decision on satellite television, and copyright reform, arguing that the common thread through the cases how to […]
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