Illegal content on the Internet

One of my pet issues has been looking at ways to keep illegal content off the internet.

I am concerned with two classes of illegal content: child exploitation and hate. To that end, I have been working through KINSA: the Kids Internet Safety Association and Canadian Jewish Congress to look at ways to make the internet a safer place.

At this point in time, the Canadian internet service providers have taken the position that they will knock illegal content off their servers, if it is hosted in Canada, but they will not block sites that are hosted off-shore. Their view is that users should install blocking software and they are working to enhance user education.

Both suggestions are good but I don’t think they go far enough. I think this is an area that warrants additional government action. After all, when we are concerned about airline safety, we go beyond telling passengers that they should bring a parachute.

British Telecom has been blocking illegal content for more than a year now under their Project Cleanfeed. Despite early criticism of its overtones of censorship, BT’s efforts have received widespread acclaim.

Carriers are not being asked to be censors. Canada already has laws that forbid certain types of content. If the illegal content is in printed form, our customs agents confiscate it at the border. If these existing laws are to have meaning, we should be taking steps to close the digital loophole.

We are hosting a session at The Canadian Telecom Summit to look at these issues. Panel members will include Det/Sgt Paul Gillespie of the Toronto Police Child Expoitation Unit; Bernie Farber, CEO of Canadian Jewish Congress; former Ass’t Crown Attorney David Butt; and, Kirsten Embree. It should be a lively session.

Something new and cool

Check out ooober.com

Think of it as e-bay for e-media (ring tones, wall papers, SMS campaigns). It certainly provides an interesting democratization of the provision of these services. You’ll hear more from ooober at The Canadian Telecom Summit in June.

Allstream’s Customer Event

As I wandered the floor at Allstream’s customer event today at the National Trade Centre, I couldn’t help but think back to the days of the CBTA and the masses of telecom customers who used to be so thirsty to drink from the fountain of knowledge at industry trade shows. Now, trade shows are a thing of the past – at least in Canada – and companies like Allstream have to put together their own events in order to get the word out to the masses.

We have consciously avoided the trade show route for The Canadian Telecom Summit. Instead, we think that people benefit from presentations given by the top leaders of all segments of the industry – avoiding sales pitches and instead delivering messages of thought leadership. It’s 3 days of networking and our fountain of knowledge is more like a firehose… come try to take a sip!

Olympic Upset

Despite the fact that Cindy Klassen is from Winnipeg, I wasn’t expecting MTS / Allstream to be her telecom sponsor. With all the money that Bell Canada is pouring into the Olympics, I sure thought that Cindy would have ended up with Canada’s biggest phone company, not the underdog from Manitoba. Maybe this speaks volumes about support for the hometown company by Canada’s most decorated Olympian, rather than her succumbing to the easy temptation of endorsing the wares of the highest bidder.

Let’s see if MTS is able to translate this gold-medal win into a momentum that leads their sales teams to upset Bell and TELUS in the marketplace.

Ramblings about the Income Trust

I have been continuing to wonder about the proposed income trust spin out of rural lines at Bell Canada. I somewhat understand why the lines aren’t being sold to the existing structure at Bell Nordique. After all, Bell Nordique has long been operated as a separate company and it has its own maintenance crews, etc. The model for the new income trust, as I understand it, is for the staff to remain at Bell and to be working under contract for the income trust company.

Question: doesn’t this model leave open the possibility to manipulate the transfer payments. If Bell is looking for some extra revenues, it increases the management fees. Or vice versa? How do we ensure that the fees are representative of arms length transactions?

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