Monday, May 26, 2008

What You Can Do to Save the Internet



I got an email this morning from Steve Anderson at democraticmedia.ca about the Net Neutrality Rally set to take place tomorrow on Parliament hill. Personally, I won't be in Ottawa and so can't attent and, honestly, most of the time I doubt the effectiveness of traditional rallies (on Parliament Hill or at Queen's Park) - this was an effective means of protest for many years but has become so widespread that I don't think it has much of an impact anymore (especially given the resources that must be devoted to organizing and staging such a rally.)

That said, Steve also pointed me to this: saveournet.ca which I fave fully signed on to (and would urge others to join me.

Net Netrality may seem like an obscure tech topic, but it isn't. What it means, in a nutshell, is that if left unchecked Bell and Rogers will soon be able to decide what websites you can and cannot visit. This is what we would call, in tech speak, bullshit! Especially given that Bell and Rogers have no competition and given that Canadians pay more than people in most of the western world for high speed access.

The infrastructure used to deliver high speed internet, whether it is over the air (satellite), phone lines (DSL) or cable is public property: Given that it comes over public airwaves of via lines that run over public property they cannot technically be owned by a private company. Further, let's say for example that in order to maintain highways the province leased them to a private company: Sure the roads would be in worse shape and the people who maintained them would make far less money, but beyond that would it be fair for that company to then decide who could get on the road, at what time of day and where that person could go? That is essentially what Bell and Rogers are trying to do. Seriously, sign up for saveournet.ca or, if you still don't get it ... ask a Ninja

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