I had a communications industry blog post ready to go, but I decided that it can wait a day.

Today, November 11, is Remembrance Day in Canada, Veterans Day in the US. I decided to set aside my usual theme to honour the sacrifices of those men and women who have served and who are serving now to defend and protect the values that we take for granted.

I have close family and friends who have children serving in three armies, all allies. Kids who are just out of high school are serving as soldiers and commanding others at war. Despite the risks they take by just getting out of bed, they’re still at an age that doesn’t let them order a drink in many jurisdictions.

Early in my career, I worked with a company that actively recuited from veterans. It was partly because their military training developed leadership skills that transfered well into their business. We need more companies to consider this kind of program.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.   Laurence Binyon: For The Fallen

A moment’s silence once a year just doesn’t seem to be enough.

For the past couple days, I was in Ottawa, attending the Experts Forum associated with of The Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA). The conference started with a powerful speeches delivered at the opening reception by Governor General David Johnston and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel. Monday’s formal program opened with strong commitments to zero tolerance by Prime Minister Stephen Harper [videos of the major speeches are available on YouTube].

Tuesday’s Internet Hate session was moderated Christopher Wolf, a partner at a Washington law firm. He had an Op Ed in the Ottawa Citizen, New media, old hatred, that is worth reading. It opens with:

Suppose Osama Bin Laden wanted to hold a worldwide rally in Toronto to condemn Jews, promote his extremist ideology and recruit a new generation of terrorists.

First of all, it is unlikely he would venture out of his cave to make the trip, given his guaranteed arrest or assassination. And it is also unlikely the rally attendees from abroad would make it across the border, given their purpose in visiting Canada and immigration rules. Even assuming that municipal authorities would issue a rally permit, no right-minded vendor would help with the logistics of video screens, microphones, speakers and the like.

A global rally to promote anti-Semitism and terrorism, fortunately, is a far-fetched notion.

Or is it?

It has been a number of years since I have focused on the issue of illegal content on the internet, but perhaps it is timely to return to this issue. As I have discussed recently, we have new anti-spam legislation that is seeking to ban electronic communications that are perfectly legal in printed form.

Why would we have a digital exemption for publications that are banned by Canada in print form? The Canada Border Services Agency is charged with the responsibility to prohibit the importation of materials that contravene its policy on Hate Propaganda, Sedition and Treason. It is a starting point.

As reported by The Gazette, among the commitments to emerge from what is being called The Ottawa Protocol:

Establishing an international task force of Internet specialists comprising parliamentarians and experts to create ways to identify and monitor anti-Semitism and other hate crimes online and to develop policy recommendations on how governments can address the problems.

There is much more work to be done.

On Friday, I had a chance to tour Ericsson’s Ottawa facility, housing their CDMA and LTE research and development labs.

The Ottawa labs are responsible for a sizable global mandate for the networking equipment giant, evidence of Ericsson’s continuing confidence in its Canadian operations. We were able to see how researchers in Ottawa collaborate with their counterparts in Stockholm, ‘following the sun’ to extend the work day.

The tour provided more than just a view of wireless development at play, which would have been impressive in its own right. There were demonstrations of some of the applications that are driving the insatiable demand for spectrum (a subject that will be explored at The 2011 Canadian Telecom Summit).

Among the interesting demonstrations was the ability to show the variations in quality of different bit rates of encoded high definition video. Many people don’t have equipment (or eyes) that can easily differentiate between 2 and 4 Mbps encoding, perhaps helping Atop Broadband’s plans for over the top IPTV that we wrote about a few weeks ago. Although, Ericsson had a flat panel screen that upon close examination showed that my Super Bowl party might be slightly enhanced by up to 8 Mbps, if you want to count the hairs on the forearm of the wide receiver.

As we looked at LTE data rates, one of the reporters asked what speeds end users would receive, as more smartphones are in the field contesting for that capacity.

It started me thinking about what kinds of applications might actually need more than about 4Mbps in throughput. Certainly, a computer that is downloading very large files in the background while watching a video in the foreground has the ability to consume whatever throughput is available.

But in terms of real-time throughput requirements, 4 Mbps delivers high quality video and any concurrent voice or messaging is almost trivial incremental demand. If we want users to be able to access streaming HD video, then average throughput of 4Mbps should suffice. Keep in mind that the flow of a streaming video is dependent on more than just the final connection. The source and the long haul network are susceptible to hiccups along the way as well. As a result, most applications use ‘buffering’ techniques that allow for variations in network delivery. 

Ericsson also spoke of tests of boomer cell sites in Australia, that permitted ultra-high speed mobile data connectivity up to 200 kms from a tower, under ‘very ideal’ topographic conditions.

Coincidentally, the tour took place on the opposite side of the river as the CRTC wound up its hearings examining, among other issues, universal access to broadband connectivity. I’m sure there is a message in there as the CRTC looks at setting aspirational targets for Canada’s broadband infrastructure and whether to mandate a new service obligation on carriers.

It appears that competition is being aided by continually evolving technologies.

On Friday, the CRTC gave approval to 5-year license renewals for Shaw and Videon cable systems in various Western Canadian operating areas, and for Novus, operating in Greater Vancouver. The licensees had sought seven year licenses, but the CRTC limitted both sets of licenses to 5 years because of issues with compliance by the companies.

These short-term renewals will permit the Commission to review at an earlier date the licensees’ compliance with the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations and their conditions of licence.

There is a special section appended to the Broadcasting Decisions [2010-820 for Shaw/Videon and 2010-821 for Novus] called “Additional Considerations of the hearing Panel” that sets out the frustration of the CRTC in dealing with regulated entities that don’t comply with regulations. It is an unusual addendum, written more like a dissent, but apparently carrying the support of the full panel of Commissioners. It may be the start of a campaign to increase regulatory powers for the CRTC.

Once again, the Commission is required to rely on sub-optimal regulatory tools to address non-compliance issues, resulting in less effective and more costly regulation, to the detriment of the broadcasting system and all Canadians.

Right now, if a company falls afoul of the rules, the CRTC has to wait until it is time to renew the licenses, and as punishment, it can either cut them off completely by not renewing their license (highly unlikely) or it can make the carrier go through the time-consuming renewal process more frequently by granting shorter license periods. The CRTC wants the power to issue fines: “administrative monetary penalties.”

Canada would benefit from amendments to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act to provide more timely and relevant regulatory compliance tools. These should include the ability for the Commission to issue administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) with regard to non-compliance matters and transgressions by licensees. Most G20 members have granted their communications regulators the authority to issue AMPs.

Based on the CRTC’s experience, the use of short-term licence renewals, don’t act as an effective enough deterrent. According to the addendum, some companies have demonstrated that the a shorter licence term at the next licence renewal (a number of years away), is a better business decision than incurring short-term costs needed to comply with their regulatory obligations.

A case in point is the obligation to meet Commission obligations relating to accessibility. Delays in meeting Commission objectives deny Canadians with disabilities meaningful access to programming in a timely manner, while the licensee is only judged at licence renewal, which can be years away.

In other words, the CRTC would like greater flexibility in the ability to deal with those parties that flout the rules. The hearing Panel observed the lack of fining powers hampers the Commission in effectively discharging its regulatory oversight for both broadcasters and telecommunications carriers.

The CRTC has such powers to deal with violations of the Telemarketing Rules and it may acquire similar powers associated with the new anti-Spam Bill C-28.

Canada is in the process of defining our role and priorities within the digital economy. Now would be the best time to cut through these delays and curtail regulatory bureaucracy by providing the Commission with the tools to act in the least intrusive and least invasive manner.

Expect to see a campaign to open the CRTC Act to add these greater fining powers.

Next week, Ottawa will be the venue for the second annual gathering of The Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA), hosted in part by Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney. The press release announcing the conference sets the tone: Stepping Up To Stop the Hate, Parliamentarians and Experts From Around the Globe Gear Up For 2010 Conference on Combating Antisemitism.

Among the sessions being examined by the parallel Experts Forum will be a session examining Hate on the Internet, a subject explored in various blog postings here over the past few years.

Twitter users can follow ICCA and watch for hashtag #icca2010