Blog

European Parliament Commissioned Study on ACTA Released

A study on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement commissioned by the European Parliament has been released. The report raises concern about conformity with the EU Acquis, particularly with how it will be implemented by EU Member States.

July 19, 2011 — Comments are Disabled — News

Competition, Not Congestion Driving Internet Data Cap Debate

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has struggled for years to deal with an issue that lies at the heart of Internet services in Canada: how can it foster greater competition from independent Internet providers while also addressing telecom and cable company concerns about network congestion.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that in 2009, the CRTC believed it found the right solution. It established Internet traffic management guidelines (often referred to as net neutrality rules) that created limits on how Internet providers could throttle or limit download speeds and encouraged providers to use “economic measures” such as data caps to manage demand by making it costlier to consume large amounts of data.

July 18, 2011 — 14 comments — Columns

Taking on Big Telecom: A Trip to the CRTC’s UBB Hearings

Torontoist has a terrific piece by Mark Coatsworth on his experience participating in the CRTC usage based billing hearing.

July 18, 2011 — 1 comment — News

“Hands off the Internet”

The Ottawa Citizen featured a masthead editorial over the weekend calling on the CRTC to avoid placing new regulations on over-the-top video providers, instead easing restrictions on Canadian broadcasters.

July 18, 2011 — Comments are Disabled — News

Shaw Places Spotlight on Net Neutrality Rules With Online Video Service Plans

Two of the leading issues before the CRTC – over-the-top video and usage based billing – have come together as Shaw has announced plans to launch a new online movie service designed to compete with Netflix. Subscribers to the service, which will cost $12 per month, will be able to watch on their TV and computer. Most notably, Shaw says that the service will not count against subscriber data caps. Given the problems users of over-the-top video services have encountered with the caps, the Shaw approach places the spotlight on the CRTC net neutrality guidelines and undue preference rules. [Update: Shaw now says that watching movies via the Internet will count against user caps]

Last week I examined the failure to effectively enforce the guidelines, however, this case raises the question of whether Shaw is violating the rules by offering an over-the-top video service that does not count against a user cap while traffic from competitors such as Netflix does. The obvious complaint will be that Shaw is giving itself an undue preference in violation of Section 27(2) of the Telecommunications Act:

July 15, 2011 — 18 comments — News