OTTAWA – The controversial issue of ‘net neutrality’ has made it on to the political agenda, after NDP digital affairs critic Charlie Angus tabled Bill C-398 on Friday.
Designed to prevent telecom service providers from engaging “in network management practices that favour, degrade or prioritize any content, application or service transmitted over a broadband network based on its source, ownership, destination or type”, Angus said that the bill will ensure that the future development of the Internet “is not impeded by unfair throttling or interference by telecom giants”.
“The telecom giants didn’t invent the internet,” Angus said in a statement. “They don’t own the internet and they shouldn’t be able to use their position as service providers to give priority to their own content.”
Calling net neutrality “a cornerstone of an innovative economy”, Angus said that the bill is not designed to regulate the Internet, but rather to ensure “a level playing field”.
“A neutral internet paved the way for the unprecedented level of innovation we’ve seen over the last 20 years”, he continued. “The principle is simple, it’s the consumer, not the corporations, who should be deciding what content has value on the internet. We can’t sit back and allow the telecom giants to arbitrarily decide which content should be in the fast lane and which content should be pushed to a slow lane."
The CRTC recently pledged to examine the current and potential traffic management practices of ISPs operating in Canada, which includes a public hearing starting on July 6, 2009, in Gatineau.
