Google Teams With Researchers To Identify ISPs Who Throttle

Google announced on Wednesday the launch of a new offering, Measurement Lab (M-Lab), an open platform that researchers can use to deploy Internet measurement tools. Googles plans are to provide researchers with 36 servers in 12 locations in the U.S. and Europe over the course of 2009.

"Today, M-Lab is at the beginning of its development. To start, three tools running on servers near Google's headquarters are available to help users attempt to diagnose common problems that might impair their broadband speed, as well as determine whether BitTorrent is being blocked or throttled by their ISPs. These tools were created by the individual researchers who helped found M-Lab. By running these tools, users will get information about their connection and provide researchers with valuable aggregate data. Like M-Lab itself these tools are still in development, and they will only support a limited number of simultaneous users at this initial stage."

Google has been open in the past about it's desires for net neutrality and M-Lab looks like it's aimed at ferreting out the offenders. "At Google, we care deeply about sustaining the Internet as an open platform for consumer choice and innovation. No matter your views on net neutrality and ISP network management practices, everyone can agree that Internet users deserve to be well-informed about what they're getting when they sign up for broadband, and good data is the bedrock of sound policy. Transparency has always been crucial to the success of the Internet, and, by advancing network research in this area, M-Lab aims to help sustain a healthy, innovative Internet."

Source: Official Google Blog

CRTC Rules In Bell's Favor On Internet Throttling

In a long awaited decision the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has ruled that Bell Canada Inc. is not breaking the law by slowing internet speeds and will be allowed to continue throttling the bandwidth of both its own home customers and its wholesale resellers. The CRTC has concluded that Bell has proven that it must be allowed to manage its network in order to prevent congestion.

“Based on the evidence before us, we found that the measures employed by Bell Canada to manage its network were not discriminatory," said CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein in a release. The CRTC added “We have decided to hold a separate proceeding to consider both wholesale and retail issues. Its main purpose will be to address the extent to which internet service providers can manage the traffic on their networks in accordance with the Telecommunications Act.”

Net neutrality advocate Steve Anderson, who runs Saveournet.ca. says "Anyone familiar with this issue knows this is a fundamentally unpopular decision they just made. Canadians want an open internet and the CRTC knows that, yet they just made a ruling that goes against the public interest." While Jacob Glick, policy counsel for Google Canada said "Though we're disappointed with the outcome of this proceeding, we're pleased the CRTC are looking at how to best keep the internet open, an important public policy issue for the future of the internet worldwide,"

What does it all mean for you and I? A whole lot more of the same...

CBC story.

Bell Ordered To Show Proof Of Congestion In Defense Of Throttling

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) told Bell Canada Inc. on Thursday that it has until June 23rd to make public data that it had marked confidential in it's filing to the commission on May 29th regarding it's traffic throttling practices. At the time of the filing Bell argued that the data, which details it's level of internet traffic, must remain secret for competitive reasons. The CRTC director general of competition, costing and tariffs Paul Godin told Bell in a letter "Commission staff has determined, based on all the material before it, that no specific direct harm would likely result from disclosure, or that the public interest in disclosure outweighs any specific direct harm that might result from disclosure," Mark Langton, a spokesman for Bell, said "Our folks are still looking at it, but I see no issue with complying," The story has sparked quite alot of debate in the comments section on the CBC's website.

Ottawa Net Neutrality Rally Today - 11:30 a.m. ET

Hundreds of protesters will descend on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday in an attempt to convince government to take action and keep the Internet free from interference by service providers. At issue is the practice of slowing down Internet speeds of customers using certain applications such as peer-to-peer software used for file sharing. Bell Canada Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc., Canada's largest Internet Service Providers, as well as other large ISPs have begun to "throttle" access to certain users, because they say a small percentage of customers are abusing peer-to-peer applications and causing network congestion.

According to the CBC "Protesters will urge Industry Minister Jim Prentice and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to enact rules that prevent ISPs from discriminating between different types of traffic, and to force more transparency from the providers." and among the groups planning to attend the rally are:

• The National Union of Public and General Employees.
• The Canadian Union of Public Employees.
• The Campaign for Democratic Media.
• The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic.
• The Council of Canadians.

If you are in the Ottawa area, get out there and show your support!

CRTC Tells Bell To Prove Traffic-shaping Is Necessary

After turning down the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP) appeal for interim relief of Bell's practice of traffic-shaping earlier this week the CRTC has now put the ball back in Bell's court. The CRTC has now ordered Bell Canada to provide "full rationale and evidence" to support its claim that 95 per cent of its users were negatively impacted by peer-to-peer traffic and to describe where congestion is occurring, according to the Globe and Mail. "CAIP looks forward to providing the commission with additional information regarding the impact of traffic shaping on our customers and the other types of applications that our customers have indicated are being negatively impacted," CAIP spokesman Tom Copeland said in a statement. While a Bell spokes person said Bell is looking forward to dealing with the application and "getting the facts out on the table." Circle the wagons, the net neutrality debate is heating up in Canada.

CRTC Sides With Bell On Traffic Shaping But Will Launch Probe Into The Practice

Bell has won the first battle, but the war on traffic shaping is not over. The CRTC has rejected a request made in March by The Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP) to end Bell Canada's throttling practices, saying the companies had failed to demonstrate that their businesses will be irreparably harmed. The companies had sought an injunction against Bell for it's practice of throttling bandwidth to high consumption users but the CRTC cited two previous Supreme Court of Canada decisions that spelled out criteria for proving irreparable harm.

Tom Copeland, chair of CAIP, said "They didn't consider the public good simply because they felt we didn't meet the test for irreparable harm," and that "The public good in this case is stronger than most regulatory issues they take up." University of Ottawa internet law professor Michael Geist says "The issue of net neutrality will be put on the table from a broadcast perspective. This decision puts it on the table from a telecom perspective as well," he said. "It's clear that many groups were seeking to jump in on this issue, and many more will come to the fore."

The first battle may be over but the war has just begun...

Canada's New Democratic Party Pushes For Net Neutrality

NDP Member of Parliament Charlie Angus is urging the Canadian government to introduce net neutrality and stop the country's telecommunications companies from throttling Internet speeds. In an open letter to the Minister of Industry Jim Prentice, Angus wrote "Ground rules are needed to ensure that the bandwidth management strategies of the major telecoms will not lead to anti-competitive practices or arbitrary discrimination against end use applications... I am urging you to adopt the recommendations of the Telecommunications Review Panel in order to send a clear signal that Canada has a plan going forward to ensure continued development of Internet technologies and fairness for consumers." Prentice is quoted by the CBC as having said recently in Parliament that "At this point in time we will continue to leave the matter between consumers on the one hand and Internet service providers on the other." While the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) does have the authority to rule on such practices, it has yet to do anything to stop the practice by the big teleco's.

Rogers inserting it's own messages into pages you are viewing

Canadian cable giant and ISP (Internet Service Provider), Rogers, is testing a system that enables it to inject messages to Rogers subscribers regarding their bandwidth usage. The company offers a tiered service with different bandwidth limits, the messages are meant to inform subscribers when they are nearing their limit. The move is setting off alarm bells with net neutrality advocates as the potential for using such technology for other purposes is very real. According to ArsTechnica, a Rogers spokesperson says "This is a trial to make it easier for our customers to keep track of usage. There is no deep package inspection and there is no privacy issue."