Online Party of Canada: CRTC 2011-44 impedes our freedom of information

The Online Party of Canada (www.onlineparty.ca, Twitter @onlinepartyca) is a new, internet-based political party seeking registration in preparation for spring elections in Canada. The OPC joined various Canadians in decrying the CRTC's decision to allow service providers to apply Usage Based Billing (UBB) which could drive up Internet access costs and cap internet data limits. A move that puts Canadian internet users at a disadvantage and puts the brakes on cloud computing, Internet TV streaming services like Netflix and web based, access-heavy computer use. Below is the OPC's release on the issue.

 As an independent organization, The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) "works to serve the needs and interests of citizens, industries, interest groups and the government" - says the website. However, Telecom Decision 2011-44 does not serve citizens that much since it makes them pay more for less internet service. Instead, it serves the big Telecom corporations to fend off competition and beef-up their profits.

IT professionals across the country are baffled. Speed of computation doubles every two years. Processing larger amounts of data costs less. Networks get faster, etc. Websites deliver more media rich experiences which consume more bandwidth. We need more bandwidth, not less! An impressive number of Canadians, along with the smaller Telecom companies, have taken to the web to vent out their frustration, but CRTC routinely ignores petitions and protests. Along with Australia, which is moving rapidly in the other direction, Canada is the only developed country in this situation and moving further in the wrong direction.

"This is a political issue," opines Mr. Michael Nicula, OPC Founder. "I argue that our freedoms are at stake. Autocratic regimes tend to squeeze internet usage (China, recent unrest in Egypt etc.) and for a good reason: internet is the best source of information, unbiased, uncensored, out of government control. But governments can shut it down.

Given that the decision was actually made, there is a good indication that CRTC has the backing of the political powers and the obvious support of the telecom lobby. Don't let this outrage go by, take political action to save your right to unlimited information!"

The OPC's website continues to say,

"From March 1 on, Canadian users of the up to 5 Mbps packages in Ontario can expect a usage cap of 25GB (60GB in Quebec), substantially down from the 200GB or unlimited deals. Future cap changes across the remaining provinces and cable services are expected soon. Content and data like Netflix, YouTube, IPTV, large file downloads or other streaming services can consume large amounts of bandwidth and place your cap limits in jeopardy very quickly at such low caps. CRTC has imposed a very high overage rate, which will be on average over $2 per gig over the assigned cap!."