Important update about Bell Media/Canadian Net Neutrality and how to share your thoughts with the CRTC

allthecanadianpolitics:

So today, my cdnpoli twitter blog (@allthecdnpoli), actually got a private message from the CRTC’s twitter account. The CRTC is Canada’s telecommunications regulator, similar to the US’s FCC (though structured differently).

They noticed that a relatively large amount of responses to the CRTC came from traffic generated by this blog.

One post I shared earlier on this blog contained instructions on how to comment on Bell Media’s anti-piracy/anti-net neutrality proposal.

This is the proposal that Bell Media is apparently planning on bringing to the CRTC (and why Canadians are mad as hell about it):

Bell Wants To Use NAFTA To Completely Criminalize Piracy

Inside Bell’s Push To End Net Neutrality In Canada

Bell, Rogers, Cineplex Linked To ‘Radical’ Website Blocking Plan: Report

Bell Leads on Radical Proposal for CRTC-Backed Mandatory Website Blocking System

If you previously reblogged that post with instructions on how to submit comments to the CRTC, can you delete it, as it has wrong information?

The intention behind that post was good, but it was directed to the wrong proposal at the CRTC. The proposal that the vast majority of people sent their net neutrality remarks to was actually about ‘the license renewals of English language television private ownership groups’. People got this mixed up because the proposal was by Bell and Rogers (and Corus).

The CRTC have told me that they have forwarded all these responses from tumblr to the correct proposal, and so if you want to let the CRTC know what your thoughts are about Bell’s proposal you can comment at the link below:

https://services.crtc.gc.ca/pub/instances-proceedings/Default-Defaut.aspx?lang=eng&YA=2017&S=O&PA=b&PT=nc&PST=a#2017-359

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This is where you need to submit your comments. The deadline is open until 13th of February, 2018.

You can read additional information on the comments section here:

Consultation on the future of program distribution in Canada

and:

Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2017-359

As for Net Neutrality, the CRTC said this:

Concerning Net neutrality, the CRTC has supported and reinforced net neutrality in Canada. In fact, the CRTC’s net neutrality framework was developed through a series of decisions confirming that service providers should treat data traffic equally (regardless of the content) to foster consumer choice, innovation and the free exchanges of ideas. 

For more information:

Strengthening net neutrality in Canada

This gives me some hope that if Bell does propose what they are apparently proposing that they’ll be shot down, but lets all keep focus on this until its clear that its not a danger to net neutrality.

I’d appreciate if you could share this post, to clear up some of the misinformation going around tumblr.

Thank you.

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