Canada must adopt legislation to stop Bell Canada from shortchanging the public, says coalition

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 27, 2008

Canada must adopt legislation to stop Bell Canada from shortchanging the public, says coalition

The Campaign for Democratic Media is outraged at Bell Canada’s recent announcement that it will begin throttling Internet service providers (ISPs) starting April 7 – a policy uncovered and made official after Canadian ISPs realized they were being shortchanged by the telecommunications giant which had begun selectively limiting the ISPs’ bandwidth.

“The problem is that Canada does not have strict legislation to prevent big ISPs from turning the Internet into a network resembling a tolled highway with a slow lane and fast lane,” says Steve Anderson, coordinator for the Campaign for Democratic Media. “This means Internet users will have much less choice in online media, be restrained in their ability to freely communicate and could end up with a largely prescribed menu of ‘choices,’ many of which will only be available from these very same ISPs.”

The organization, a coalition of civil society organizations, academics and grassroots media activists, is calling for the federal government to adopt enforceable net neutrality legislation that would require Internet service providers not to discriminate, including speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination.

“Net neutrality protects our ability to direct our own online activities,” says Anderson. “With net neutrality in place, a network's job is to move data in a non-discriminatory manner, based on what people want.”
About us: The Campaign for Democratic Media! (CDM) is a network of public interest groups, labour organizations and activists from across the country who are interested in helping to create the conditions for diverse, accountable and quality Canadian media.

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For more information, please contact Steve Anderson at: 604-837-5730; [email protected]
More on Net Neutrality at http://democraticmedia.ca