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:
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.
