Until Monday, the CRTC was accepting comments on traffic management (aka net neutrality). In preparing my comments, I edited the form letter made available through www.saveournet.ca. It was a very easy process to submit comments.
Save Our Net is an important grassroots initiative which is mobilizing Canadians to speak about the impacts of throttling and the importance of net neutrality. Members of Save Our Net include individuals, civil society organizations and ISPs supporting net neutrality. Comments are still being collected by Save Our Net if you missed the CRTC deadline.
Submitted comments to the CRTC:
Dear Commissioners:
I submit that the CRTC should consider public interest
perspectives and prohibit Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from
traffic-shaping or the 'throttling' activities which undermine
the neutrality of the internet in Canada.
As a doctoral student in the Faculty of Information and
Knowledge Media Design Institute at the University of Toronto, I
hope to be able to rely on the principle of network neutrality
in carrying out research and teaching over the course of my
career.
I do not support the idea that traffic-shaping or throttling is
an acceptable solution to the network congestion issues
experienced by ISPs. I am highly concerned that if the CRTC
permits traffic-shaping, it will inhibit legitimate public
interest uses of the internet (i.e., research, content
distribution by public producers, activities undertaken by civil
society organizations, etc.). I am also concerned that large
corporations are controlling how small ISPs can offer internet
access to Canadian citizens or consumers. In subscribing to
monthly internet access at home, I explicitly choose to direct
my business to an ISP which supports net neutrality. I expect
that my ISP should have the ability to implement net neutrality
for its customers.
In summary, I support net neutrality as a principle for the
internet. I believe that the CRTC has a responsibility to ensure
the internet in Canada is open and accessible.
Sincerely,
Karen Smith PhD Student, Faculty of Information & Knowledge
Media Design Institute University of Toronto