April 5th, 2008
Net Neutrality in Canada - Video news update
Took a working holiday this past week in Florida, but couldn't ignore the many emails about the net neutrality debate in Canada. In response, shot a two-minute video news update to shed some light on the situation (thx to CD for shooting and editing this!). The little kid in the video is hard to hear, but I can assure you that he is one bitter ISP customer!
Feel free to post this video anywhere you want online (there is an embed feature on the video player). I'm off to Australia today for the next week on a work trip, but I'll try to blog from Down Under.
April 5th, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (36)
Posted by: Shawn | around about 1 year ago
Hey Amber, Great video. Nice explanation of Net Neutrality.
Posted by: SteveintheUK | around about 1 year ago
Looks like Net Neutrality issue's is finally starting to get some attention, at least in Canada. Hopefully if they can get it sorted out then the rest of the world will have some where to look at to show what can be done to stop the major ISP's. Glad you found time during your busy working holiday and topping up you tan to film this. So do you think your new office/studio will still have an internet connection when you get back after your ISP sees this video? That least the internet is cheaper in the USA/Canada/UK than in Aus, poor Leo just paid $90 for 500mb of bandwidth, which he used up in a couple of days. Now he's having to pay 10ยข/meg, thats $100 for 1Gb of bandwidth, I think that it what you would call 'frigging expensive'. Would be interesting if you could interview people down there about what they think of Net Neutrality, and about the amount they get charged. Sorry, I know I keep telling you this but have a save trip and please blog/twitter when you get there to let us know you arrived save & sound, Thanks. Have a great time though and don't forget your mains converters, they run on 240volts downunder, Take Care L&L, PS, don't forget to break your bed
Posted by: Colin Bowen | around about 1 year ago
I just Twittered this with a link. As many people as possible should know about it. It won't be long before the UK has this problem, I think.
Posted by: punterjoe | around about 1 year ago
Nicely done. Clear, concise, and laid out so simply even a foulmouthed child (or a politician) could grok it. ;) Seriously, I'm as fired up as the kid. Deftly edited!
Posted by: Greg Pietersma | around about 1 year ago
Nicely done Amber. Please keep up the advocacy work. We must protest the degradation of our access to the Web. Without regulatory over site they will screw us. I was taking with a guy who is trying to build institutional intranets for school boards and hospitals - he said that Bell makes a fortune off of high speed residential hook ups. He also said that there is is a ton of unexploited bandwidth. Without having to spend much they could easily increase it. Alas we are a quite people used to being controlled by self serving monopolies.
Posted by: Rev | around about 1 year ago
Nice Vid, my only complaint would be to remove the kid complaining about Bell. Aside from clarity issues, it looks more like teenage angst than a serious complaint at that point. Either remove that segment, or put someone that is at least older and possibly even credible(involved in the industry). Otherwise, you're spot on. Now hopfully we won't lose like the US.
Posted by: Justin Gill | around about 1 year ago
This is great Amber! Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to educate and spread the word to Canadians about Net Neutrality. It's a new concept to Canadians and many people aren't aware of the debate in the US let alone our own country (Canada). Time to spread the word! Thanks, Justin Gill
Posted by: Michael McGimpsey | around about 1 year ago
Great video Amber. It's an important issue
Posted by: Michael McGimpsey | around about 1 year ago
Great video Amber. It's an important issue
Posted by: Serge Bigras | around about 1 year ago
Great spot Amber ! I wasn't aware that traffic shaping was used by service providers to control the flow (to their advantage) of data on the Net ! I currently use Videotron and that would explain a lot of things happening to my poor download speeds depending on what and where ..... Keep up the good work !
Posted by: Jill | around about 1 year ago
Thank you for making this video!
Posted by: Ted | around about 1 year ago
Good stuff. Bell + Rogers own tv companies. Their next step will be approving THEIR content ov that of others.
Posted by: steve | around about 1 year ago
Campaign to save Net Neutrality http://stopthethrottler.ca
Posted by: Jeff Garlick | around about 1 year ago
WOW! One more reason I feel lucky to be an American! Not meant to rub it in but to state how glad I am that we don't face that type of action here! Or do we?
Posted by: HeavyDuty | around about 1 year ago
Short, sweet and to the point. Nice find on the YouTube video too. Bell is succeeding in pissing off people of all ages!
Posted by: fred | around about 1 year ago
Jeff, are you kidding? Did you miss at the reporting on the much bigger issue of Comcast throttling in the US? The one that's escalated all the way to congress?? my only issue with this video was the ear-shattering record scratches sound during the kids video segment. Couldn't hear what he was saying, anyway.
Posted by: Ryan Hamilton | around about 1 year ago
Add Cogeco to the list! Over the last month my speeds have been choked. Great little piece Amber, well done! I'll be sure to share the link!
Posted by: Kevin Wegner | around about 1 year ago
Any one know if Shaw or Telus is doing the same in western Canada?
Posted by: TheWeeJenny | around about 1 year ago
As far as I know Telus isn't throttling anything, yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Posted by: Canyon | around about 1 year ago
Great Job! We need everyone hearing about this and you do such a great job of presenting it. Thanks.
Posted by: Skot | around about 1 year ago
Great video, Amber! Net neutrality is a growing concern of mine and I don't like the idea of what the internet will be like when my son is my age should restrictions grow even tighter.
Posted by: mrG | around about 1 year ago
Thanks for posting this, much needed, about time and all that, but I do want to add that there's no need to point fingers at the two near-monopolies because while the ISP association may moan and blame Bell, I know of several small ISPs who have been censoring P2P traffic for far longer. It's easy to blame the big guys, but the issue is far far deeper than that. You can all it traffic shaping, you can call it net-bias, but it is censorship, there is no escaping that. It was supposed to be a great leveller, that it didn't matter if you were a homebased business or IBM, on the Internet "nobody knows you're a dog". When I worked with Vint Cerf's Societal Task Force we would lambaste dictator-run nations for "restricting the voice of their people" through this sort of practice. The Internet was not to be a one-way broadcast propaganda media, it was to be a omnidirectionally inclusive whole-humanity enabler, and we released many scathing critiques of asymmetrical broadband roll-outs. But we're not so smug now. In fact, I kind of envy that average 3rd world user who is granted such freedom as to run those damned spam servers in their basement -- I haven't had an ISP who allowed any sort of home-based servers for a long, long time :(
Posted by: DNAMichaud | around about 1 year ago
Great video Amber; it's something my wife, and even my parents (in their late 50s) were able to get a loose understanding of. Sadly, they still don't quite understand why it is a problem... as my father said: "the ISPs own the internet, why can't they do what they want with it" - *shrug* it seems there is still quite a ways to go before they truely grasp the issue. At least now they understand there's something brewing.
Posted by: Dave | around about 1 year ago
Nice work Amber... I have to agree with DNAMichaud though. I've tried to explain the issue to older people like my parents a few times, and I think a lot of people who just hear about the problem don't understand why it's important. You're pretty good at explaining things - maybe your next little project could be doing a little explanation of why people should care. (I know you did an interview with Professor Andrew Clement a while back, but that could be a bit dated now.) The way I frame it for my parents is that we're talking about their granddaughter's ability to participate in a democratic medium, etc. I find this is a good approach to take with people who don't use the internet much themselves.
Posted by: Mr Smith | around about 1 year ago
Watch "US kept in slow broadband lane" to see what the BBC thinks about USA broadband, it's not good. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/
Posted by: Robert | around about 1 year ago
that is on of my favorite places to hang out and chill, and yes ok, maybe a little bit of a work vacation. but can we really call it work? So.. that was a little off-topic.
Posted by: Peter Montgomery | around about 1 year ago
One of the answers is to become your own cable company by getting a BUD (big ugly dish) and a satellite modem. Cheers, Peter
Posted by: RichC | around about 1 year ago
Great job Amber ... keep the 'noise' going. (BTW, have a safe trip to Aussieland next week)
Posted by: Louis | around about 1 year ago
Great vid, thanks. One nitpick though: Jim Prentice is the minister of Industry, not Finance. Might want to double-check that kind of thing in the future.
Posted by: Steve N. | around about 1 year ago
If I had to guess it looked like you were filming just blocks from my family's condo in New Smyrna Beach, FL. !
Posted by: FN | around about 1 year ago
Hey Amber, Just saw this neutrality report. Solid piece as always. However, I just wanted to raise a little mistake in it. Jim Prentice is not the Minister of Finance, but the Minister of Industry, the department responsible for this issue. thanks
Posted by: raloedgelianka | around about 1 month ago
Generic Viagra is used to treat male impotence also known as erectile dysfunction. It is the first of a new group of medication which allows adequate sexual stimulation, relaxes the blood vessels of the penis and helps erection. The effect is only obtained with a satisfactory sexual stimulation.
Posted by: raloedgelianka | around about 1 month ago
Generic Viagra is used to treat male impotence also known as erectile dysfunction. It is the first of a new group of medication which allows adequate sexual stimulation, relaxes the blood vessels of the penis and helps erection. The effect is only obtained with a satisfactory sexual stimulation.
Posted by: raloedgelianka | around about 1 month ago
Generic Viagra is used to treat male impotence also known as erectile dysfunction. It is the first of a new group of medication which allows adequate sexual stimulation, relaxes the blood vessels of the penis and helps erection. The effect is only obtained with a satisfactory sexual stimulation.
Posted by: raloedgelianka | around about 1 month ago
Generic Viagra is used to treat male impotence also known as erectile dysfunction. It is the first of a new group of medication which allows adequate sexual stimulation, relaxes the blood vessels of the penis and helps erection. The effect is only obtained with a satisfactory sexual stimulation.
Posted by: Bernard Ramsey | around about 1 year ago
Amber, fantastic report - uber hip style and catching content. You are right about the little kid's sound level, but it's not hard to get the point of what he's saying. Throttling has been happening in the States (as you know), and I'm just glad my ISP Time Warner hasn't been doing this locally. Have a safe trip to AU!