It's been a long time since I managed to find something to talk about. When that happens, society usually finds a way to mess something up, which causes a rift, big enough for me to jam an opinion in. Thus, it's good for society to screw up. It creates controversy, and everyone gets a good laugh out of it.
The CRTC, or Canadian Radio-Television & Telecommunications Commission, as the name suggests is the body responsible for regulating broadcasting and communications. In our day and age, it is naturally a very big deal when it comes to messing with the way the everyday consumer utilizes any form of telecommunications. Therefore, the CRTC decides it is a good idea to try a stab at that. What is it that the CRTC has decided on doing then? The CRTC has essentially rendered all third party ISPs defunct. How did I come to that conclusion? Simple. Third party ISPs are generally wholesalers to Bell's Internet Service. The CRTC now believes that Bell should be able to put a limitation on the usage limits of the wholesalers' services. That means, that third party ISPs no longer have "unlimited usage" at significantly lower costs than that of Bell's plans and offerings.
Strike One. CRTC is now trying to force third party ISPs out of business. It is a ridiculous and far-fetched idea to think that these third party ISPs can still stand a chance when customers no longer feel that their service is any more enticing than that of Bell. The CRTC, a government body basically is saying, that amidst the economic downturn, amidst the need for the Canadian economy to generate more jobs, and maintain any existing ones, they want to kill off small businesses that do nothing more than try to give consumers a better deal. It is with competition that our market continues to grow, and that is the sole purpose of a free market. This, is a concept that the CRTC fails to recognize, and does not offer a chance for the manifestation of a proper free market within Canada. Slowly and steadily, they will begin to rid Canada of these third party ISPs, and eventually, Bell will have a monopoly in the Internet world. If I may add, Bell Internet also offers one of the worst customer services known to Canada.
Strike Two. CRTC not only wants third party ISPs to be out of business, they also want to push all consumers towards Bell's Internet Service. Aside from the poor customer service, Bell is also famous for plans that are edging towards a pricier edge. Implicitly, the CRTC wants the average consumer to fish more money out of their pocket for substandard Internet access that even the weakest of developing countries can outpace. Does this sound like a proper government that actually cares for it's people?
Strike Three. CRTC not only wants to attack third party ISPs, but they also want to implement a new way of billing for Internet access that will force all people to pay extra for substandard Internet access. It turns out that they want people to pay for Internet service by the byte. This is a very unfair and absolutely ridiculous proposition. The header packets from the average TCP transmission takes at least 20 bytes. Sequence numbers, CRC, checksums, IP addresses. If people were being charged by the byte, it will result in ridiculous charges. For those who opt out of Internet access altogether, it will mean a big leap backwards in the world of telecommunication. So I believe the CRTC doesn't want an advancement of society. They want us all to resort back to primitive ways. If they can't succeed, they want us to be broke from paying overpriced bills. Movie streaming companies will be out of business, businesses that rely on broadband Internet will be wasting a lot of money into paying for Internet service.
In baseball, three strikes, and you're out. However, this isn't baseball, so the CRTC isn't out. So, what is the CRTC after? For a government that continues to lecture other countries (China, North Korea, recently Egypt, etc) on democracy and human rights, our government seems to fail to understand free market and the human rights related into it. The government doesn't want our society to advance. They want us to all descend to primitive levels of communication and be detached from the growing and advancing world. That is not a future fit for us. We need to fight back, and we need to do it fast. Our voice as citizens of Canada must be heard.
The Harper administration is now in the process of reviewing this new proposal, and has until March to make a final decision. Fight for the future, and sign the following petition, and tell the government, "Enough is enough". I'd like to take this opportunity to quote Harper's ridiculous ad campaigns to put down Michael Ignatieff, and say : "[Harper], he's not for Canada". "What is he after?"
The Petition is found at : http://openmedia.ca/meter
Update : More in depth insight found at http://domvoyt.blogspot.com
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