Canadian ISPs Limiting Access To CBC Shows

An anonymous reader sends word that, even as ISP interference with BitTorrent traffic is easing in the US, the issue is heating up in Canada. Major Canadian ISPs are limiting access to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's shows, made available online using BitTorrent. This issue has burst onto the scene due to smaller ISPs, such as Teksavvy, blowing the whistle on the fact that Bell was expanding its traffic-shaping policies to smaller ISPs that rent Bell's network. These events have sparked a formal complaint by the National Union of Public and General Employees, which represents more than 340,000 workers across Canada, to the regulatory body, CRTC, and calls for change in Parliament.

relevant bit

[zogger]

.."Experts also say there is plenty of capacity left on the networks -- a fact Bell admits to -- so the traffic-shaping is being done merely to interfere with internet applications the companies see as threats to their own businesses."..and there's the rub. There needs to be a clear business separation between bandwith providers and content providers, then there won't be as much inclination for the bandwith providers to engage in net data bits manipulation mischief.

Censorship? How?

[nurb432]

How is throttling bandwidth remotely considered censorship? If you still get your data, it wasn't censored. Sure it might be breach of contract, and down right irritating, but its not censorship since no information was actually detained in the process.

( of course there is still the problem that a private company cant censor if you go by its true definition, but i wont start that debate up )

Gotta change the system

[TheNucleon]

The only way for this problem to go away is to come up with technologies and approaches that reduce barriers to entry for being an ISP, or surrogate thereof. If competition was allowed to emerge, or if people figured out how to build their own peer/grid networks (in metro areas), then consumers could make another choice when they're fed up with the draconian practices of the Big Boys(tm). The ONLY reason that ISPs can pull this stuff now is that they have a captive audience.

The current method of getting bits over a pipe seems so archaic (although I'm probably jaded by too much Star Trek). If enough people get (a) fed up, and (b) innovative, solutions could emerge.

If enough people don't care and just want to be spoon-fed their Internets by "the man", well, then we've lost the battle anyhow. Sadly I suspect that is the case.

Re:Censorship? How?

[Anonymous Coward]

And again, as before, I answer:

You want to watch a live 1 mbit video feed. Your access is 5 mbits, but the throttle makes the maximum usable speed 300kbits.

The live video feed is effectively censored, since you can't watch it, even though you have a fast enough connection.

The same way your mail would be "censored" if the post office screwed a 1/8" slot over your mailbox. Anything bigger than that (newspapers) won't go in the box. And no, removing the slot is not possible. And the mailman isn't allowed to open the box to put in the mail. And you aren't allowed to buy a bigger slot, but you are welcome to buy a box the size of your garage if you'd like, but the 1/8" slot will still be installed.

Re:This is bigger than comcast

[billcopc]

I VPN all the time, I see no speed issues at all. In fact, for a while that's how I did my torrenting... now I just run them on a dedicated server across the pond.

Ultimately, I think these stupid throttling issues will be short-lived, as they are explicitly targeting one type of activity (p2p) which just so happens to be one of the most popular uses for residential broadband access. That's kind of like McDonalds deciding they will no longer sell any burgers, and go out of their way to harass burger lovers. That kind of business attitude is not sustainable in the long term.

Re:Defeating traffic shaping, at least poltically.

[Idiomatick]

You'd have to convince game makers and other legitimate coders to purposely make a program they know wont work in many places. While i'm sure alot of coders are strongly for net-neutrality I think you would be hard pressed to find one that would break their own work for it. Also, most people will assume its your fault that things are going slowly since the rest of the net is working fine. They might leave on the basis that you have shitty service, even though thats not the case. Grandma wouldn't even notice or just quit.