Traffic throttling Super Bowl! …
… at least, that’s how a post on dslreports describes it, going on, “Should be some interesting arguments about the discrimination of an entire protocol and the discrimination of a population who use P2P, thanks to Bell Canada …”
Because today is the day the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) opens its investigate into traffic throttling slash net neutrality in Canada.
And it’s been a long time coming.
More than a year ago, the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP), representing independent ISPs across Canada, launched its official complaint against traffic throttling instituted by Bell Canada against its customers, pretending it was reluctantly forced to do so because of the activities of a tiny minority of people it called broadband hogs.
Online, these people, who comprise 5% of the general Bell Canada customer base, are known as file sharers. Significantly, an identical statistic is also routinely trotted out by other ISP giants, and not only in Canada.
“The companies say these large files clog the space on their networks, which leads to slow connection speeds for other customers, similar to how a lumbering tractor trailer can impede the flow of traffic on a highway,” as a Financial Post story colourfully states the situation as it’s presented by Bell, et al.
“Other ISPs in the United States and Europe have faced a similar backlash from proponents of ‘net neutrality,’ which states that traffic-shaping violates the unwritten rule that all Internet traffic should be treated equally and should not be managed by ISPs,” says the story, adding:
“What started as an issue that garnered attention only in the technology community, the idea of net neutrality has steadily gained mainstream attention. Members of both the federal NDP and Liberal parties have spoken out in favour of net neutrality.”
It has Rogers spokesman Ken Engelhart stating, “The CRTC has all the tools it needs to deal with discrimination and they should deal with complaints as they arise … it’s a mistake to try and create rules up front for a medium like the Internet that’s changing so quickly.”
Traffic control practices “under the microscope” are, says the CBC »»»
- Throttling — that is, purposely slowing down the internet speeds of certain online applications such as peer-to-peer file transfers (P2P) relative to others.
- Deep packet inspection, a technology used to examine traffic to figure out what type of data it is so it can be monitored and directed.
- Imposing download limits and excess bandwidth usage charges on heavy users.
And as part of the investigation, the CRTC is also looking into:
- The level and growth of congestion on networks.
- Other potential methods for dealing with it, such as upgrading network capacity.
The hearing is featured live and as it happens on Twitter, says the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC).
Super Bowl line-up »»»
Monday, July 6
Appearing individually
1. Sandvine Incorporated
2. Juniper Networks
Panel
3. National Union
4. Union des consommateurs
Appearing individually
5. Public Interest Advocacy Centre
Tuesday, July 7
Appearing individually
6. Open Internet Coalition
7. Zip.ca
8. Canadian Conference of the Arts
9. Canadian Independent Record Production Association
Panel
10. Jason Roks
11. Norm Friesen
12. Vaxination Informatique (Jean-Francois Mezei)
Wednesday, July 8
Appearing individually
15. Score Media
16. Council of Canadians with Disabilities and ARCH Disability Law Centre
17 Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists
18. Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic on behalf of Campaign for Democratic Media
Panel
13. Independent Film and Television Alliance
14. Canadian Film & Television Production Association
Thursday, July 9
Appearing individually
19. Canadian Association of Internet Providers
20. Coalition of Internet Service Providers
21. Cybersurf
22. Execulink Telecom
23. Rip.net
Friday, July 10
Appearing individually
24. Quebecor Media, on behalf of Videotron ltée
25. MTS Allstream
26. Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc.
27. Cogeco Cable Inc.
28. Barrett Xplore Inc.
And for the Grand Finale …
Monday, July 13
Appearing individually
29. Rogers Communications Inc.
30. Telus Communications Company
31. Shaw Communications Inc.
32. Bell Aliant Communications Partnership and Bell Canada
“geez,” says DJMASACRE in the dslreports post. “look who is opening the discussion, and ending the discussion … these parties should all be present for the entire thing. this does not look right to me anymore 
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
dslreports – Its the Traffic Management Super Bowl!, July 5, 2009
long time coming – p2pnet traffic shaping digest, April 19, 2008
Financial Post - Federal regulators ready to click on the Web, July 5, 2009
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July 6th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Can we please have an official discussion about p2p that is actually fair and balanced instead of being dominated by corporate mouthpieces? It seems like the only way to have a real discussion is to bias it AGAINST these corporate giants and their puppets.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:09 am
@SteelWolf.
It’s not different than when people rose up against the corporate funders who used the Conference Board of Canada to spew their made up and fictitious data and garbage.
This is the exact same thing.
When numbers and data are pulled, they will have to be scrutinized and people will have to be biased.
They can no longer be taken at face value and as the truth.
We have already seen the Telco’s flip-flop on what they say, and what the CRTC says.
Do not expect any type of balance. It’s a telco war going on.
The winner will be the better mouth pieces and those who use rhetoric to their advantage.
Don’t forget. All this is due to the fabled 5% of internet users across both Quebec and Ontario.
Put on your galoshes on SteelWolf, because we will all be walking knee deep in bullshit.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Union des consommateurs will be at CRTC july 13th not today.
Regards
July 6th, 2009 at 10:37 am
The Consumer Union is a champion!
July 10th, 2009 at 12:12 am
CRTC Useless Twits