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Younghusband
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Younghusband

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June 20th, 2009

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Liberal Party of Canada comes out in favour of net neutrality

Says Industry, Science and Technology Critic Marc Garneau

The issue of net neutrality is a global one. Internet management should be neutral and not be permitted for anti-competitive behaviour nor should it target certain websites, users, providers or legitimate software applications. We must protect the openness and freedom of the internet, and maintain competition to spur innovation, improve service levels and reduce costs to users.

Positive development in a country which has a very active media censorship bureaucracy. Net neutrality has been part of the Green Party platform since 2007. The NDP followed in 2008. Now only the Conservatives (and of course the People’s Political Power of Canada and other nutcase parties) are lagging behind. For the sake of my fellow countrymen who suffer terribly at the hands of the communications monopoly, I hope the Conservatives cave sooner rather than later.

Net neutrality and digital copyright management has become a greater topic of concern in Canada over the past couple of years. See Michael Geist’s site for more information.

Comments to this entry

DJ
June 20, 2009
9:44 pm
Telecom companies paid for the development of these networks. "Net-Neutrality" is a BS civil rights concoction to attack successful corporations. The pattern of this movement and its eventual goal of having the UN run the internet reeks with Marxism. It will not make the internet "fair".
Chief Wiggum
June 21, 2009
4:16 am
I agree with DJ. The Green Party and particularly the NDP are no friends of personal liberty. When Marxist or neo-Marxist groups start talking about competition to spur innovation, improve service levels and reducing costs to users, you can be pretty sure it's rhetoric to enable them to get their hands more firmly on the throat of the entity they want to control.

I support net neutrality too, but do you think statist political parties are going to give it to you? They are not about personal freedom.

Has there been any movement to nuke the Canadian Human Rights Commission? Has any Muslim, no matter how radical, hateful or extreme his views, ever being called before the CHRC for voicing his religious views on Jews, homosexuality, or women? A Christian minister who expounded on the biblical view of homosexuality was assessed a hefty fine and ordered to publish an apology in a local newspaper and to refrain in perpetuity from ever restating such views again, even in private emails.

BTW, I clicked on the link for the People's Political Power of Canada website. They are whack jobs even by Canadian standards. They want to empty prisons by putting criminals in the military. "We will call on our military to impart moral values to criminals who are resistant to change. They can earn a career in the military and earn a sense of self worth, by using their strength in defending the women and children of the nation, and in helping out in emergency situations." That's right. Training criminals in the use of heavy weapons will make us all safer.
Michael
June 21, 2009
4:41 am
What bothers me isn't the notion of recruiting prisoners so much as a) the lack of details about how the training would be done and b) the goal "We will not send our sons and daughters to war". What were they planning on using all those new soldiers for, then? Could be dark communist plot, more likely a bunch of clueless idealists.
map
June 21, 2009
12:28 pm
Michigan is a good example of what happens when a Progressive Liberal is running the show! And Michigan re-electes these BUMS?? Reckless!!!
tdaxp
June 21, 2009
11:39 pm
Very good news from the Liberals!

Like any utility, telecom lines only exist with heavy government protection. Regulations create a purposefully high barrier to entry in order to protect the giants that already exist. It is good that some political parties recognize this, and insist that these utilities are treated like utilities -- foundational infrastructure on top of which competitive markets can thrive.
Roy Berman
June 22, 2009
9:45 am
I agree with TDAXP. While the telecoms did invest heavily in their networks and deserve the chance to make reasonable profits from it, they also received huge amounts of government subsidy both in forms such as protective regulation, government assisted physical infrastructure construction, right-of-way rights, etc. In exchange for that it is perfectly reasonable that they also now be forced to accept limits on their monopolistic position.
M-Bone
June 22, 2009
10:56 pm
One time, I was just about out the door and got a phone call from one of the big Canadian com giants that I was signed up for pitching extra services. I said that I wasn't intrested and that I really had to go. The guy on the other end said, "Well, why the &#%# did you pick up the phone?" I was pissed enough to actually want to complain to the company but couldn't find any appropriate "service complaints" address (electronic or snail) on their website or any appropriate category in their phone system that might let me talk to a real person. I was considering just switching company but the only other show in town told me that they could do a hookup between 9-5 sometime between Tuesday and Friday and that I should be available when they call... sometime... between 9-5... Tuesday to Friday... I, like, kinda work and stuff. This isn't a situation where people should be getting on anti-big government high horses or boohooing for the companies. It's worth noting that just about anywhere in Japan offers more than five times the high speed and TV package options than the average Canadian has access to.
Roy Berman
June 23, 2009
2:28 am
My house in Montclair, New Jersey is lucky enough to be in one of the few areas where you can get Verizon's fiberoptic network service, and it's quite excellent-but still costs substantially more and was far more effort to get connected than the similar service in Japan. Although to be fair, part of the reason it was more difficult to get installed is because the process includes permanently installing a rather hardcore battery backup system in the basement that will keep network service running for several hours in a power failure, as opposed to just running the fiber line to house and plugging in a terminator box like I have here in Japan.