Bills emerging from the rally • Telecom Trends

From looking at the photos of last week’s net neutrality rally in Ottawa, the reports of 300 people said to have been there must have included about 150 tourists who thought that the guy in the godzilla suit was the RCMP musical ride.

However, the rally was apparently a stimulus for a pair of private member’s bills, starting with Bill C-552, introduced by NDP MP Charlie Angus and announced at the rally. It proposes to add some text to Section 36 of the Telecom Act. Recall that the current section basically says that carriers can’t play with content without the express consent of the CRTC.

He has proposed that the following be added:

The Telecommunications Act is amended by adding the following after section 36

Network operators shall not engage in network management practices that favour, degrade or prioritize any content, application or service transmitted over a broadband network based on its source, ownership or destination.

Nothing in subsection (1) shall be construed as limiting or restricting the right of a network operator to

manage the flow of network traffic in a reasonable manner in order to relieve congestion;

provide reasonable security protection for a user’s computer or the network;

give priority to emergency communications;

offer directly to each user service at different prices based on defined levels of bandwidth or the actual quantity of data flow over a user’s connection;

offer directly to each user consumer protection services, including parental controls for indecency or unwanted content, software for the prevention of unsolicited commercial electronic messages, or other similar capabilities, provided that the user is given clear and accurate advance notice of their ability to refuse or subsequently disable each consumer protection service;

handle breaches of the terms of service, provided the terms of service are not inconsistent with subsection (1); and

prevent any violation of federal or provincial law.

Network operators shall not prevent or obstruct a user from attaching any device to their network, provided the device does not physically damage the network or substantially degrade the use of the network by other subscribers.

Network operators shall make available to each user information about the user’s access to the Internet, including the speed, limitations, and network management practices of the user’s broadband service at any given time.

For the purposes of this section, “network operator” means a person who operates or provides access to telecommunications services.

It seems to me that a lot of folks keep forgetting that, unlike its counterparts in other jurisdictions, the CRTC already has the tools it needs to guard against discriminatory practices.

Bill C-552 appears to be balanced on a cursory examination, but I can already detect areas that give me concern about the possibility to limit future developments in the internet.

Yesterday, Liberal MP David McGuinty introduced C-555, “An Act to provide clarity and fairness in the provision of telecommunication services in Canada.” He has proposed to add certain consumer protections as a condition of license for mobile carriers.

While neither bill may not stand a chance of passing, especially with summer recess around the corner, Bill C-555 is a sign of frustration with anti-consumer practices such unilateral changes of terms and fees outside of contracts. Carriers might be thankful that the honourable member didn’t think of adding the condition to wireline BITS licenses as well.

For the final word on this lengthy post, I found it ironic that in writing about net neutrality this past weekend, Mark Evans seemed to endorse new neutrality laws and regulations but simultaneously quipped that