GATINEAU – The times, they are-a-tweetin’.
If you want to make your voice heard at the CRTC during one of its public proceedings, there are multiple ways to do so. Most are pretty formal, with deadlines and procedures which people or companies must follow – and if you want to speak right to the commissioners, anyone can come before the Commission in person or via video or teleconference at the hearing as long as they have said so weeks in advance.
On Monday, the CRTC will add another way Canadians can get on the record – in 280-character chunks.
Late Tuesday afternoon the Commission, at the same time it released a new survey which will help inform its proceeding on Canada’s large telecommunications carriers’ sales practices, said Canadians are invited to share their experiences with Canadian telcos, cellcos, cablecos and others using the hashtag #CRTCforum on Twitter.
We didn’t have time Tuesday to ask why other social media like Facebook or Snapchat or Instagram or Reddit won’t be used, but we will be asking shortly.
On Monday, October 22, the CRTC will begin a week-long public hearing on the possible use of aggressive and misleading sales practices by large telecommunication service providers. The largest Canadian telecommunications carriers will appear before a full Commission panel as will public advocacy groups, individuals, seniors advocacy groups and other stakeholders.
Tweets using the hashtag #CRTCforum which comply with the Commission’s Rules of Engagement (a list of rules that say, essentially “don’t be a jerk”) and which are posted between 9:00 AM October 22 and the end of the hearing on Friday October 26 will be added to the public record. “These will be considered for the CRTC’s report to the government on the matter,” says the Commission.
(Ed note: We hope this goes better than a prior hearing we recall where tweets were featured on monitors in the hearing room for all spectators. Thanks to the, uh, content, of some of the tweets, those monitors had to be turned off.)
Ahead of the public hearing, the CRTC also published results of the public opinion research it commissioned from IPSOS, which includes feedback from focus groups and surveys.
Top line findings from the survey look bad, where about 40% of participants reported having experienced sales practices by telecommunications companies in Canada that they consider to be aggressive or misleading.
We’ll have more to say on this survey later Wednesday when we have time to properly read through all 76 pages.
“Canadians' interactions with telecommunications service providers need to be carried out in a fair and respectful way. We are committed to providing a fulsome report to the Government on whether misleading or aggressive retail sales practices are used by large telecommunications service providers,” said CRTC chairman Ian Scott in today’s press release.
Here are the rules by which tweeters must abide. The Regulator says it reserves the right to edit or remove comments which:
- Contain personal information;
- Are contrary to the principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
- Express racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, slanderous, insulting or life-threatening messages;
- Put forward serious, unproven or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations;
- Are aggressive, coarse, violent, obscene or pornographic;
- Are offensive, rude or abusive to an individual or an organization;
- Are not sent by the author or are put forward for advertising purposes;
- Encourage illegal activity;
- Contain announcements from labour or political organizations;
- Are written in a language other than English or French;
- Are unintelligible or irrelevant;
- Are repetitive or spam; and
- Do not, in our opinion, add to the normal flow of the discussion.
“In short, please be respectful and make sure that your comments are relevant to where they are posted,” adds the Commission.
