Michael Geist’s column in the Toronto Star this week claims Canada is in the slow lane on traffic shaping regulation or enforcement. The article claims that “there has been near-complete inaction from Canadian regulators and politicians.”
What action from regulators and politicians is expected? Are additional laws and regulations really required? Are there complaints that aren’t being investigated?
The article acknowledges that there are already bodies that could address complaints.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and its chair Konrad von Finckenstein could seize responsibility for this issue. The Competition Bureau’s Fair Business Practices Branch could investigate the lack of transparency with Canadian ISP services. Industry Minister Jim Prentice could pursue net neutrality legislation or encourage the Industry Committee to conduct hearings on the issue.
I would think that CIPPIC – The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic – would be precisely the right body to launch a Part VII application with the CRTC if there are violations of the Telecom Act. Has the CRTC been unresponsive to a filed complaint? Is there really a Competition Bureau issue?
Do we really need the Industry Committee to hold hearings when the Telecom Policy Review Panel looked at the issue and came out with a statement that promotes market forces, not increased regulation, as I wrote last year.
The Star article raises the TELUS blocking incident as a reason why we need more legislation. One glaring violation in all the years of the internet’s existence – is this it? Almost a year ago, I wrote about Net Neutrality and rolling through stop signs. Do we need new laws to get people to obey the rules of the road or enforcement of the existing rules?
Net Neutrality will be the subject of a panel discussion on Wednesday June 18, the closing day of The 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit.