The CRTC, New Media (and Michael Geist)

If you don't read Michael Geist's Blog. Dr. Geist will keep you up to date on the latest in the law as it pertains to technology and copyright.

Today you would have found out a couple of important things. First the Competition Bureau has warned the CRTC against regulating new media. This is a good thing in that the internet doesn't need to be regulated in the same way television and radio are. The internet is a public forum where anyone can participate and should remain so. It is a bad thing in that, at the moment, a handful of companies in Canada monopolize connections to the internet and bandwidth and they are exploiting that monopoly. They are overcharging for internet use, and trying to control what you may or may not do on the internet - they are, in effect, regulating the internet themselves without any input from government.

The best solution is probably for municipalities to provide internet service (in the same way they provide water and sanitation) - simply make it an essential public service and shut the telecoms out altogether.

The second important and interesting thing you would have found out is that those self same companies have formed an alliance to defend their anti-public monopolies.