Canadian Regulators Won't Stop Bell Canada's Traffic Shaping

from the shape-away dept

Back in March, Bell Canada started traffic shaping the internet traffic that passed over its network without telling its reseller partners. This was a pretty big deal, as many of the ISPs who resell Bell Canada DSL promise to their customers that they don't do any kind of traffic shaping. Those resellers complained to Bell Canada, who responded by saying too bad, recognizing that those resellers had nowhere else to go. Some of the reseller ISPs complained to Canadian regulators who have now sided with Bell Canada, allowing the company to keep on traffic shaping. The regulators basically said that the ISPs have been unable to show how they're being harmed by this move, which is required for them to step in. One would think that a boatload of customer complaints and threats to move to any other internet connectivity (not that there are many choices) would be enough to show harm to the ISPs. Once again, it's nice to have near total control over your market, isn't it? Update Some good details provided in the comments. The matter is still being investigated by regulators. This ruling was just about interim relief.

Filed Under: canada, regulations, traffic shaping
Companies: bell canada

Is Bell Canada Violating Privacy With Its Traffic Shaping Efforts?

from the another-way-to-look-at-it dept

We've seen all sorts of arguments against ISPs who engage in traffic shaping, but now some are trying to make a privacy argument against traffic shaping as well. A few months ago, the news came out that Bell Canada was engaging in traffic shaping, even for its wholesale ISP partners who promised customers open internet access. As a couple folks have submitted today, the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic at the University of Ottawa is claiming that in addition to other questions raised about this, traffic shaping may be a privacy violation, in that it uses deep packet inspection to determine what type of packets are being sent to figure out what to traffic shape. Bell Canada responds that it is only determining what type of packet it is, rather than what's in it -- but even that information could potentially be a privacy violation. While it seems unlikely that this argument will stick, if traffic shaping starts being seen as a privacy issue, it could put even more pressure on ISPs to stop doing it (and may encourage more users to encrypt their traffic).

Filed Under: canada, privacy, traffic shaping
Companies: bell canada

Is Canada Considering A Three Strikes And You're Off The Internet Policy?

from the keep-an-eye-out dept

With the entertainment industry actively pushing for laws that would require ISPs to kick users off the internet for file sharing, using a "three strikes" policy, Michael Geist is wondering if they've quietly succeeded in Canada. Apparently a French newspaper is reporting that Canadian ISPs are negotiating such a policy already, though there have been no such public statements. Given how secretive the industry and the government have been about new copyright laws, perhaps this isn't too surprising. We do know that the industry was pushing for greater ISP liability as part of copyright law changes a few months back, so it wouldn't be surprising if ISPs were negotiating a "three strikes" type rule to avoid the liability issues. Of course, they probably want to keep it secret, as publicity (and resulting anger) about these types of laws in Europe has at least some politicians moving away from them. However, as the entertainment industry does keep succeeding in getting these types of laws to move forward, how long will it be before similar laws are proposed in the US, with "everyone else is doing it" as part of the reasoning?

Filed Under: canada, copyright, isps, three strikes

Head Of Canadian Post Offices Says Satirical Top 10 List Is Libel

from the oh-please dept

Rob Hyndman writes in to let us know about yet another person trying to use libel laws to get content taken down that isn't libelous at all. Apparently, the head of the Canadian postal service, Moya Greene, got upset at a satirical blog post on the blog of the postal workers' union making fun of Greene for joining the board of directors of Tim Hortons, the well-known doughnut shop. The union blog post put together a mildly amusing "Top 10" list of reasons why Greene had joined the board, including such things as "So she (or her driver) doesn’t have to get in line to get her morning coffee." Har har. So, it's not all that funny. But, it's difficult to see how it's libel. And, of course, by invoking The Streisand Effect, it seems like all Greene has done is suggest that she doesn't have much of a sense of humor.

Filed Under: canada, canada post, libel, top 10 list

Copyright Scholar Kicked Out Of Canadian Copyright Panel

from the fair-and-balanced dept

US entertainment industry interests have been pushing for quite some time to get stronger copyright laws in Canada, despite plenty of questions about why they're needed. Thanks to folks like Michael Geist, who has repeatedly shined light on attempts to rush these efforts through, some of these efforts have been set aside until there can be more public debate. But, of course, the industry never rests, and as it's looking to get stricter copyright laws in place in Canada, it doesn't much want to hear from critics who have facts on their side. Geist points us to the rather ridiculous news that a supposedly non-partisan, independent organization called the Public Policy Forum has uninvited a well known expert, Howard Knopf, on Canadian copyright from a symposium being held today. Knopf was going to do a presentation explaining why Canadian copyright law is already stronger and better than US copyright law, and why the US ought to be copying Canada's law, rather than the other way around. However, Knopf believes that PPF was pressured to remove him from the schedule, including removing him from a panel where he planned to debate these issues with a registered lobbyist of the entertainment industry. It's a lot easier to get questionable laws passed when you silence the critics.

Filed Under: canada, copyright, howard knopf, public policy forum

It's Good To Be A Monopoly: Bell Canada Tells ISPs To Shut Up And Accept Traffic Shaping

from the what-are-you-gonna-do? dept

Remember how Bell Canada had decided to start traffic shaping without telling any of its ISP resellers? Well, in a meeting with those resellers, the company both admitted it and told them there was nothing they could do about it, even if it meant that those ISPs were violating their own terms of service and promises to customers. It's good to be a monopoly, you see. Since those ISPs have nowhere else to go, Bell Canada is able to do whatever it wants to the network, and if those ISPs don't like it, they're pretty much out of luck.

Filed Under: canada, telcos, traffic shaping
Companies: bell canada

Will The Patriot Act Cost Google Business?

from the well,-thanks-to-fear-mongering dept

The Globe and Mail is running a somewhat sensationalistic piece about a Canadian university, Lakehead University, that decided to start using Google's email system to replace its own buggy and frequently crashed offering. The problem? Fears concerning US data privacy laws, such as the Patriot Act, mean that professors are told not to send confidential info, including grades, via email. This has upset a number of professors who are protesting the use of Google's products. There are a few different points that are worth sifting out of this.

First is the question of whether US laws like the Patriot Act, are potentially harming US businesses, as foreign organizations choose not to do business with them due to the implications of those laws. Chances are likely that this is happening quite frequently, even if those fears are totally overblown with respect to reality. Of course, it's not clear why a company like Google doesn't just set up local servers in certain countries, like Canada, to deal with local companies -- and then consider those out of the reach of US laws and authorities. It would seem like a smart business move.

The second question, though, is whether or not the government is really sniffing through everyone's email. The article seems to imply that, thanks to the Patriot Act, the feds have open access to Google's servers. While you can understand the paranoia, that's a bit overstated. The article says: "Using their new powers under the Patriot Act, U.S. intelligence officials can scan documents, pick out certain words and create profiles of the authors." That's not accurate. Or, rather, it's leaving out huge parts of how this is done. The Patriot Act didn't just hand all of Google's info over to the feds so they can create profiles on anyone. I'm not one to defend the Patriot Act, which I think is a terrible piece of legislation, but it does no one any good to make false statements about what it has allowed.

The third question is whether or not Google's own ad displays next to email is troubling to a university -- which is a bogeyman I thought had been killed back around 2004. Given the cost (free) to the university, you'd think they'd understand the tradeoff. The "payment" is the ads. If it's such a problem, then the university is free to go spend however many millions of dollars on building its own system. Or, perhaps Google can offer up an ad-free version for paranoid universities.

Filed Under: canada, data privacy, patriot act
Companies: google

Bell Canada Decides To Throttle Traffic Without Telling Resellers

from the no-neutrality-for-you! dept

While it's increasingly rare to find DSL service not directly sold by the telco (thanks to the FCC killing line sharing rules, of course), in other countries, it's much more common. This creates competition on the network and gives the various retail sellers a chance to differentiate themselves. Up in Canada, it appears that Bell Canada has decided to start implementing traffic shaping features without letting its resellers know. That means that customers are discovering that their traffic is being impeded at times and their own ISP has no clue about it. And it's blocking perfectly legitimate activities. In fact, one person points out that he's having trouble downloading the show that the CBC is purposely offering on BitTorrent. This seems especially ridiculous, as Bell Canada is dealing with a small number of resellers and should be able to price its network in a manner that takes into account usage -- allowing the resellers to handle how they reprice and resell the service. But by unilaterally deciding to shape the traffic without even telling its ISP partners, it gets users pissed off at their own ISPs for something that has nothing to do with them. Then again, perhaps that's the idea.

Filed Under: canada, line sharing, resellers, traffic shaping, wholesaling
Companies: bell canada

Canadian Telemarketers Play The FUD Card On Do Not Call List

from the look-south,-people dept

Michael Geist points us to the news that telemarketing firms are coming up with bogus reasons why a Canadian Do Not Call List is dangerous. The latest is particularly ridiculous. They're afraid (no, seriously) that people will upload other people's phone numbers to the list -- and those people might actually want to hear from telemarketers, but will not be able to get their daily dose of dinner-time interruptions thanks to the nefarious uploaders. Seriously. Of course, there's an easy response to these claims by telemarketers. Just point out that telemarketers made similarly ridiculous claims prior to the US implementing a Do Not Call list a few years back, and nothing horrible happened then.

Filed Under: canada, do not call, fud, telemarketers

Canadian Politician Pushing For Canadian DMCA Caught Violating Copyright

from the irony? dept

As you may have heard, some Canadian politicians have been trying (despite great opposition) to introduce a Canadian version of the DMCA, claiming that it's necessary -- despite an awful lot of evidence to the contrary. In a fair bit of irony, it turns out that the guy in charge of introducing the legislation, Jim Prentice, also happens to have been caught infringing on the copyright of a song used at an event to mock an opposing politician. You might think this would get him to realize that the copyright issue isn't as black and white as he seems to assume it is. In the meantime, his opponents have pointed out that this is a pretty good reason he shouldn't be in charge of copyright laws, but were rebuffed. The whole thing, of course, is rather silly and a bit of "politics as usual." However, it should make it clear that this issue is a bit more complex than Prentice wants everyone to believe it is. And, with that, he should at least be willing to revisit the question of whether or not such a law would do more harm than good.

Filed Under: canada, copyright, dmca, jim prentice