Net Freedom Threatened by ISP Policies, Say Critics

Net Freedom Threatened by ISP Policies, Say Critics

by: Joan Delaney

The fight to preserve network neutrality, already well under way in the United States, picked up steam in Canada in recent weeks when it emerged that some major Internet service providers (ISPs) have been limiting Internet speeds for certain types of functions.

This practice is known as "traffic shaping" or "throttling," and Internet activists say it jeopardizes net neutrality, the principle that ensures a free and open Internet without discrimination.

Bell Sympatico and other Canadian ISPs have been slowing the service of people who share files on networks like BitTorrent, Gnutella and Lime Wire for more than a year. This mostly affects peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic which is used to transmit large files, such as movies.

But an outcry erupted a few weeks ago when Bell said it would shape traffic on the networks it sells to third party ISPs. Dozens of small ISPs buy bandwidth from Bell and resell it to businesses and consumers who want high-speed, high-capacity service.

Critics say the move jeopardizes the survival of independent ISPs and will destroy competition in Ontario and Quebec, opening the way for the big players — Bell Canada, Rogers Communications and Videotron — to dominate the market.

Rogers has also been engaging in traffic shaping, and the company recently informed some of its customers that it intended to cap the amount of bandwidth that they could download.

Bell maintains traffic shaping during peak hours is the solution to growing congestion on the Internet resulting from a small number of people using large amounts of bandwidth.

While calls to Bell requesting an interview weren't returned, the company said in a letter posted on the Internet to an angry customer that, under the terms of its Service Agreement, Bell is entitled to "utilize technology that maintains or enhances the performance of the Service and the integrity of its network."

"During peak periods of Internet usage, Internet Traffic Management is used to balance bandwidth fairly between P2P file sharing and other applications so that all customers will receive fair use of the network," stated the letter.

But Steve Anderson, national coordinator of the Vancouver-based Campaign for a Democratic Media, isn't convinced. He believes this is purely a business move by Bell.

"They have their own investments and media content and their own services. If they block P2P networks then obviously people will have to use theirs."

Anderson says that rather than limiting Internet service as a way to deal with congestion, Bell should build and invest in the network so that it can handle more traffic.

"Right now they're using the excuse that there's broadband scarcity so they get to control the network. If we allow them to do that then there's no real incentive for them to make the network better. The more "scarce" it is the more they get to control it."

Net neutrality has become a hot political issue in the U.S. in recent years, says Craig Aaron, communications director for Washington D.C.-based Free Press and for SaveTheInternet.com, a coalition of groups seeking to protect a free and open Internet.

For decades, says Aaron, media policy issues in the U.S. have been conducted behind closed doors where the public "never has a seat at the table."

After it was discovered that Comcast and other big telecommunications companies were blocking legal Internet traffic and cutting off P2P file sharing programs, a campaign by SaveTheInternet.com resulted in 25,000 public comments being filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

This prompted the FCC to conduct an investigation. There has already been one public hearing, with another coming up in mid-April, and a private bill to protect net neutrality is making its way through the House and the Senate.

"What this whole effort has shown is that the public absolutely cares about these policies and they're very concerned about the future of the Internet," says Aaron. "They don't what to ask permission from the phone or cable companies to download what they want from the Internet."

Rather than just a handful of giant corporations controlling the whole market as is the case in Canada and the U.S., what's needed is more competition and choice in the marketplace, says Aaron, such as in Asia, Europe, Finland and Iceland. This spurs innovation, lowers prices and ensures the survival of net neutrality. "They don't have these kinds of problems in Japan. In Japan right now they're rolling out super fast high-speed fibre lines to everybody's homes at speeds that are 20-50 times faster than what you can get in the 'States and for less money."

While the big Japanese telecom monopoly fought open access net neutrality requirements initially, once they were in place the big companies had to lower their prices, innovate and introduce new products in order to keep their customers.

"That's the kind of thing we want to see happen," says Aaron. "The greatest benefit for all consumers, all society, is having more choices, more options."

The Canadian Radio-television and Communications Commission (CRTC) decided in 1999 that it wasn't going to regulate the Internet. However, the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has asked the regulatory agency to investigate traffic shaping and its impact on Internet users.

"We feel that what Bell is doing is quite serious," says Len Bush, national representative with NUPGE.

"We don't think this is an all around issue of bandwidth and how much pipe speed is going on as much as Bell and Rogers and the very large companies trying to squeeze out anyone but themselves."

While Telus Communications is not currently engaging in traffic shaping, in 2005 the corporation blocked access by striking Telus employees to a website called "Voices of Change" and in the process blocked 766 additional websites.

This is an example, says Bush, of how ISPs can monitor Internet traffic and discriminate about what's being transmitted over the Internet; it also involves privacy issues.

Traffic shaping could also interfere with a recent groundbreaking move by the CBC to freely release a high-resolution version of "Canada's Next Great Prime Minister" on BitTorrent.

"Using BitTorrent allows the CBC to meet its statutory mandate, yet with ISPs such as Rogers engaging in non-transparent traffic shaping, millions of Canadians may be unable to fully access programming funded by tax dollars," wrote Ottawa law professor Michael Geist on his website.

Anderson fears Canadians may be on the verge of losing the open Internet. Without enforceable net-neutrality legislation, there is little to prevent the big ISPs from turning the Internet into a tolled highway with a slow lane and a fast lane — with those who want to use the fast lane paying an access toll.

With the ISPs as gatekeepers, he says, small-scale media producers would have little chance of being successful, and everyone from public-interest groups to small business to everyday citizens would have less ability to communicate freely.

Anderson has started a "Stop the Throttler" campaign, aimed at raising awareness about the issue and urging people to demand action from the government. He believes that with enough public response, the CRTC will eventually conduct hearings.

"Once people know about this they automatically get upset — it's so unanimous that people are against this."

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