I wrote last week about Open Media’s misleading “pro-internet” pledge, requiring signatories to agree to control retail prices if candidates want to win the organization’s seal of approval. On Friday, Open Media released its list of people who signed up. The original list had a number of people who appeared multiple times, as well undefined candidates, such as “Moe” and “KG”. On Friday, I let Open Media know about the problems with their list. After I tweeted about the problems, Open Media apparently reviewed their database. The current version may have eliminated duplicates, but it still creates questions in my mind.
I wasn’t surprised to see a large NDP presence on the list, especially after reading the plank in the NDP’s digital platform: “We will prohibit all forms of usage-based billing (UBB) by Internet Service Providers (ISPs)”.
However, under the heading of Conservatives, Open Media lists the following candidates:
- David Pais
- gerard mckenzie
- Howard Garstad
- James Stevens
- Mark Pescador
- Patrick Hunt
- Ron Manke
- Tyler Pelletier
I thought this was an interesting level of support for Open Media, until I went to the Conservative party’s website to learn more about these candidates (only one of the candidates had a link from the Open Media website).
It turns out that most of them aren’t actually candidates for the Conservative party. As far as I can tell, seven out of the eight aren’t even running for office.
For example, according to Open Media, Ron Manke is the conservative candidate for Edmonton Centre, which likely comes as news to incumbent Laurie Hawn, who thought he was the nominee. In fact, seven out of the 8 names under Open Media’s Conservative heading don’t align with Conservative Party records of their candidates. The candidate sign-up page doesn’t appear to have mechanisms to validate entries, or guard against duplicates, similar to its form letter to the CRTC and its original petition.
It’s great to have mobilized a constituency; will Open Media be able to rise to the challenge of responsible leadership to become a credible consumer voice?
look at least they are trying to do something for the public trying to make sure we get what we pay for and don’t get gouged. bell and rogers over charge and limit speeds, for what it costs them to transmit the data come on stop spouting the big telecoms garbage and stand up for the average person for once. as canadian in comparison to other country’s we are no were in line with what we get in the way of services against what we pay. i work in the I.T field and know what it cost to build a network for a company. try helping open media out and the public be a man
Shane,
I have a house in the US and pay $40 a month for a 1.5 Mb/s connection. I also have a home in Canada and pay $37 a month for a 15 Mb/s connection. From my experience I think Canada beats the US on the price/value scale.
There is a lot of misleading information coming out of the OpenMedia lobby. What first hand data do you have to back up your assertions?
You a Cunt! Learn how to read first, i guess your rogers paycheck not enough to pay for your grade school. Idiot!