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CRTC to not regulate Internet
Grey Dragon writes "Apparently the Canadian CRTC has decided after a year of "In depth reviewing" that they will not regulate the internet.
Now there's freedom for you." This looks like a step in the right direction. Hopefully, more national goverments will see the light.
Free crypto, open internet, a God given right to be able to listen to anything transmitted on the airwaves with your unblocked scanner. If it weren't for stupid gun laws (weapon and ammo must be kept locked up in separate locations making quick defense access useless), I'd be so there. Hmm. I wonder if I can build a house that sits on both sides of the US/CA border. Then I can have the best of both worlds!
Funny how people's political beliefs can taint their memory of who said what. Their own party, of course, is perfect and infallible. That quote must've come from "the other side". Yeah that's it!
I have to admit, the decision NOT to ban the internet, is great news but I was looking forward to having a good laugh at my governments expense.
I was hoping for some sort of regulation, just to have our ideas of freedom of speech put under a microscope.
But Canada may be changing. That would be better than I could ever hope for. Maybe we can finally rid ourselves of this thinly veiled social/theological structure that has dominated Canada for far too long.
Subverse
PS.
I think that there is still the matter of a tax levy on ISP's to support "canadian content" whatever that is.
Hey, watch what you say about Degrassi!! I grew up watching that show, and had a crush on Joey Jeremiah (what hot blooded Canadian female didn't?). Degrassi kicks ass!
Canada also kicks ass.
Candace
And of course, you fail to mention that the CRTC stepped in with Bell & Sympatico already. Because of their stepping in, the prices (and what you get) have been severely restricted:
Old dsl: $70/month, 2.2mb down, 1.1mb up, static IP.
New "dsl" called High Speed Edition(hse): $40/month, 1mb down, 128kb up.
They were offering a pretty ridiculous service before, but they were aiming for the hardcore residential customers. Most people aren't willing to pay the ridiculous isp rates that they offer for dsl. But businesses are more than happy to get it! And Sympatico's dsl service excluded businesses.
In Quebec Sympatico is taking a huge fall against Videotron (www.videotron.com) because Videotron's cable modem service is faster, better service and costs about the same.
I was born in Quebec, and spent all but a year living in it.
:)
I'm half scottish, half french, all canadian, and 100% Linux. Yeehaw!
Acting in the best interest of the cable companies, mainly Rogers. While government bodies may not really grasp the nature of the internet, the cable companies realize that any "controls" will likely cause their business harm. They also want to keep the CRTC away from the industry so as to prevent anyone getting any bright ideas about preventing price abuse. (which doesn't actually worry me too much. My cable's pretty reasonable.)
For once though, I'm glad that the CRTC is doing what Rogers wants. We're the worlds most wired nation, and as long as the government's not constantly talking about regulating, restricting, or taxing the internet, growth should continue at the same pace. (Just how many American cities have cable access?)
Why do the anti gun types always want to further restrict the law abiding gun owners instead of going after the criminals. I'll tell you why. because the law abiding are easier to bully and control than the criminals are. They don't know how to stop crime so they're going to solve it by preventing the other side from being able to stop it. Yah, that makes a lot of sense.
If you look at the FBI statistics for firearm deaths, you'll see that legitimate self-defense use of guns including police use results in ~3000 deaths a year. The total number of deaths from guns is 10 times that.
That means that 9 times out of 10 when a gun goes off, it's a tragedy.
New math? 9 times out of 10, it's a homicide. And one that might have been prevented had the victim been able to defend himself. Look at the old west when more citizens carried handguns. Even accounting for population differences, violent crime, per capita, was far less than it is now. Why? The crooks have less to fear from a de-armed population so they're getting more brazen.
As for needing a gun to protect against the bad guy with a gun? I really don't care what he's breaking into my home to threaten me with. Be it gun or knife, syringe or club, nylon strap or pointed stick, I will use my gun to defend myself, period.
If you want to stop gun crime, stop the *crime*, not the guns.
*DSL is available in most major centers from competing ISP's. I know in the Ottawa-Hull center it is available from at least 3 companies.
a.
Sorry, but all this peace and love crap flies right out the window when faced with real-world hostility. It's funny to see Clinton, in the days following the Colorado shooting, say how "we all must set by our own example to show that violence is never a viable solution to a problem. Talk it out." Meanwhile, Clinton orders the bombing in Yugoslovia to intensify. Uh huh. The best defense is a good offense. A rabbit does not attack a lion just like no other military has attacked the US mainland in over 50 years. You don't attack that which has the ability to easily quash you in retalliation. If more people were armed, fewer people would die. Conversely, If criminals have nothing to fear from their victim, there will be more victims. Get it?
In Quebec Sympatico is taking a huge fall against Videotron (www.videotron.com) because Videotron's cable modem service is faster, better service and costs about the same.
And then again, this is probably because people are misinformed. Sure with Videotron you'll get really good rates, but mostly in areas where the service has just been deployed. In some areas, cable customers get 3 to 5k/sec on major sites while ADSL customers (me) still get 100k.
Videotron's advantage is that they were there 2 years before Bell. Maybe it's a matter of trust. But also I've heard about an ad stating that cable is faster because hey, a co-ax is a bigger wire than telephone wiring!
As for cost, yes, service costs about the same. Although Videotron charges for the modem rental (or you can buy it, $200 if you subscribe for a 12 month period (eewww) or $400 otherwise) while Bell/Sympatico don't yet. Plus, videotron has different pricing options depending on wether you subscribe to their TV service, etc...
From what I read, Sympatico in Ontario and Quebec doesn't charge for modem rental ($15) yet because Rogers (Ontario) doesn't. So people in Quebec would actually take advantage of how it's going with Rogers. But anyway, I'm not 100% sure about this.
Huh? No one's attacked the mainland in over 50 years? Unless you count the Japanese balloon bomb that hit Oregon in WWII, it's been a LOT longer than that!
Aside from that, who the hell are we Americans to tell the Canucks how they deal with guns? I thought we were supposed to respect other cultures and traditions? Or is that why you want guns - so you can force everyone else to be like you?
Reminds of a few weeks ago, when I was crossing the border into Canada; hadda go into Customs, and there was a fellow American SCREAMING at the Canadian agents that it was his constitutional right to carry a gun. Into Canada, apparently. Sigh. Had something similar occur in France, too.
It's interesting that the people who generally argue the most mindlessly against any form of gun control are, by virtue of their lack of responsibility and common sense, themselves the very best arguments in favor of gun control.
It's funny you should mention that. As a newf living in Ontario, I've found the Ontarians here to be pretty Americanized (except for the accent). I've heard Waterloo is particularly bad with respect to this. I hope it's true. On a more relevant note, this is the first reasonable thing I've heard of the CRTC doing, woohoo! Canadian porn sites would have to have a minimum level of Canadian content :) Ahh yes, all the Pamela Andersen-Lee we could stomach
Anonymous Spanker
jfunk, you comments represent an insightful counter-ideology to the corporatist ideology that our *friend* Bill Gates runs on. I'm from Calgary where CBC stereo often the only repreive from the absolute cheeze-whiz on every other radio station.
They are certainly *NOT* the only ones in canada offering DSL service.
Under cost? I get the same price from other providers.
See: Cadvision Internet in Calgary, for example.
ANYONE can offer DSL, they only need the dry-pair terminating in the right location. It just so happens that the telco is in the ideal position to deploy this kind of stuff, and someone located outside the telco office ins't in as good a spot... does that make them 'evil'?
My god! I just realized.. they also have a monopoly on local telephone switching! how dare they!
Actually, I'd bet there's more of a culture difference between Calgary and Toronto than between Calgary and Great Falls, Montana.
People from the South might think that having a government owned media network (CBC) would be a form of citizen control but it is in fact the converse.
I've not watched all that much CBC television, but CBC Radio definitely has a Big-Brotherish political correctness that is positively unceasing.
I suppose that if you still define anti-establishment in some sort of quaint, 1960s way, as some sort of general liberalism, CBC is anti-establishment. The 1990s reality is that CBC represents the ruling class of politically-correct socialists.
People from the South might think that having a government owned media network (CBC) would be a form of citizen control but it is in fact the
converse. The government gets more razzing from their own CBC than they do from anyone else.
The goverment gets razzing form the CBC in proportion to how right wing it is.(CBC people ar pissed of at the funding cuts the current goverment made in its buget) and are retailating.
The offical opposition (reform party) has as one of its platforms to get sell the CBC and get rid of the CRTC. As expected that is the party most razzed by the CBC every other brodcaster (the private ones) are much more fair to every party.
The CBC does practice a form of "citizn contorl"
it just does so in its own interst not nessassarly the current goverments interests.
"People from the South might think that having a government owned media network (CBC) would be a form of citizen control but it is in fact the
converse. The government gets more razzing from their own CBC than they do from anyone else."
The goverment gets razzing form the CBC in proportion to how right wing it is.(CBC people ar pissed of at the funding cuts the current goverment made in its buget) and are retailating.
The offical opposition (reform party) has as one of its platforms to get sell the CBC and get rid of the CRTC. As expected that is the party most razzed by the CBC every other brodcaster (the private ones) are much more fair to every party.
The CBC does practice a form of "citizn contorl"
it just does so in its own interst not nessassarly the current goverments interests.
Good news, shame about the shortsightedness of the Australian Federal Government.
They are about to pass a bill that would fine ISPs for "indecent" content.
http://www.efa.org.au for more info.
calgary radio sucks :(
THE CRTC is not a political instance. It is gouvernemental but not political. It's pretty independant from politic in fact.
Where the hell did you learn your history ? Democracy hasn`t been invented by americains! You had a democracy when you were a part of the British empire...Also video games are from Japan ! Oh yeah, with Al Gore for vice-president you can say that you americains had created the Internet...
Now I`m happy to be from Quebec.
Vivre le Quebec libre!
I think a Canuck is a french canadian that doesn't live in the province of Québec or simply a Québécois.
Now if I can only get the PLQ to stop afraid people with la piastre à Lévesque, we might be getting somewhere!!
Dum spiro spero
Shouldn't be surprising when you realize that the production cost (per minute) of those commercials makes Phantom Menace look like a home movie. Yes, some are really cool: Some of the most creative work and best special effects (plus a few misfires) on film anywhere.
And after 50 years of commercial TV, I feel that most of us Yanks are relatively immune to the brainwash.
Before you Americans go off saying how much better Canadians are with respect to regulation of the internet, look at the situation. This decision is only to not regulate Canadian Content. Canada is already so bogged down with regulations that it is difficult to do anything in Canada without going through 20 committees. The government has to decide what television channels and programs that we should watch, or what music we should listen to. The only reason that the CRTC made this decision is that it is not technologically feasible to monitor Canadian content on the internet.
Americans do not realize how lucky they are to live in a democratic free market. In Canada we are ruled by a elected five year dictatorship. Despite what you may believe, the American government is the closest that the world has come to a perfect government model, however regardless of how perfect the government is, it will always be hindered by the ignorence and stupidity of the majority of its citizens. This is not meant to insult any Americans who reads this, however the government is only an extension of the population, and if less than 10% of the population has any real knowledge and skill in regards to computers and the internet then that is how your government will act.
Just remember it s worse in Canada
-SR
And after 50 years of commercial TV, I feel that most of us Yanks are relatively immune to the brainwash. You are so wrong !!!
We may be Canadian, but by looking at our television and radio programming you will see that Canadians LOVE American culture...
Not in Quebec
What kind of fool are you?
A frying pan can kill just as easily as a bullet?!
I don't know what kind of frying pans you own, but they must be deadly from a distance! And maybe *you* can stop bullets with your bare hands, but the vast majority of human beings are quite incapable of that feat...
Ya.
To which razzing are you referring to? The Liberals in national office are constantly made fun of on the two most popular CBC political satire shows ("The Royal Canadian Air Farce" and the brilliant "This Hour Has 22 Minutes), as is the NDP in BC, the NDP in Ontario back when they governed.... whoever is running the show gets razzed. (Heck, the PQ is moderately leftist and they receive the hardest mockery of anybody). Frankly, they mock whoever is funny. Right now, it happens to be preston and the reformers, because that's what they are. funny. :D
You've spent too many years being brainwashed by the public education system.
Due to a right-wing Catholic Senator who hold the balance of power in Australia's Upper House, Australia plans to filter the Net - the first Western Nation to do so. (Despite being a democracy, freedom of speech is guaranteed in its consitution.) Read how the plan to do it. Their Senate Committee on Information Technologies Report is online in pdf format at:2 281.pdf
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/s
It is possible they will use sotware which DYNAMICALLY updates a blacklist. The report includes an interview with the CEO of the company that's developed it.
HINT: Whoever offers an effective bypass service for Aussies when this filtering goes up will be a hero!
P.S. You can also read about the general issues at www.efa.org.au - the Oz equivalent of the EFF.
You're also quoting Roger's speed when talking about Videotron. I regularly get 100k/sec, and on the better sites, between 200-300. Late night on metalabs means 700k/sec.
I also bought my cable modem without a year's subscription for $200. So now I pay a big fat $35 a month. And the tech support is pretty good. They suport anything windowsish and macish. They don't officially support Linux, even though they have the dhcp stuff right on their ftp server, and point you to all the howto's on how to hook up with them via Linux.
If you read the conditions carefully, it does not say it's not going to regulate the internet so much as it says that what's on the internet does not yet meet the requirements. If, in the future, the internet becomes more ubiquitous than television cable, and some forward-thinking organizations start to transmit tv programs over the internet, the CRTC will be all over it, because the cablecos and network TV stations will want them to be all over it.
I love Canada, no doubt, but the only reason this was good news is because the Internet in Canada is nowhere near its potential yet.
Don't get complacent, Canucks! We must keep the Internet "True North Strong and Free."
Ha, like they could've done anything about it.
Regulating net content isn't all that evil. It means bringing the content in accordance with Canadian laws (which very much protect the right to free speech).
Dogmatists may be happy because this decision upholds their ridiculous and exaggerated notions of what "freedom" is, however I'm happy because it means my government won't waste it's time on the impossible. Lord knows, we have other things to spend our money and time on...
>The anti american sentiment in Canada created by McCarthy is still alive and well
>and as such don't expect Canada to EVER cave in to America's lead (for lack of a better
>word) with regards to ruining the internet through regulation.
That Canada strives not to be like the overly bureaucratic US is what keeps Canada on the straight and narrow. The US has lost its way since the fall of the Soviet Union. Without the Evil Empire as a yardstick of what not to do, the US is slowly becoming like the emeny it once despised. Look at scanner (the radio kind) laws for instance. It wasn't until 1994 that it actually became illegal to listen to certain (unscrambled) portions of the radio spectrum (the cell band). Later, cordless phone freqs were added. With this precedent I expect every radio vendor to jump up and demand their freq range be added to the law of banned radio spectrum to listen to. We all used to look down on the Soviets for their strict regulation of radio *receivers*. Now we're going down that same path. Why? Because the US has no real Nemesis that we're striving not to be like.
America needed the Soviet Union. It's what kept the US great.
You could always get a generator :-)
----
Open mind, insert foot.
True, and for those of you out there not familiar with Canadian Statutes:
S.1 Refers to Section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which reads:
1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
Essentially, this means that the Crown (our version of a D.A.) would argue that the expression could be reasonably limited if it were justifiable to our society.
Yeah, right.
- Adam Schumachercybershoe@mindless.com
N.A.R.T. #009 P.W.T.T.K.S.S.S.T.H.U. #001
Forget it, you will never live in an unarmed society. A frying pan can kill just as easily as a bullet.
Bill - aka taniwha
--
Leave others their otherness. -- Aratak
"...True North Strong and Free!"
ttyl
Farrell
CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
ADSL, Cable modems, how quaint. I'm counting down the days until I can get wireless high-speed connectivity...
a tedserv.htm#jetstream
Check out http://www.storm.ca/corp_services/corp_serv_dedic
Mmmmm, nice. With line-of-sight microwave digital TV (www.look.ca), my PCS phone (www.clearnet.com), and this wireless internet service, the only lines running into my house are going to be for the electricity.
"Tomorrow's forecast: a few sprinkles of genius with a chance of doom!" - Stewie Griffin
>>>> I've always laughed my arse off at how much trouble Americans have accepting that the internet isn't their's to regulate in the first place... At least here in Canada the gov't has proven that at least one person somewhere has actually double clicked a netscape icon before... But really, if they had tried to regulate it and if for whatever reason my site didn't conform, what's to stop me from moving it to Hong Kong by FTP? I'd like to see Jean Chretien (or any US official next time some paranoid right wing parliamentarien needs extra votes) trying to explain to The People's Liberation Army of China how they are gonna have to go about protecting the minds of North America's kids... #####
Some of those are valid points, however you really should rephrase them or be accused of attempting to cause a flame war.
Zyber
(Canadican living in the Dominion of Canadia)
Unfortunately the moral conservatives in power think restricting free speech is a good thing in itself.
Danny.
I have written over 900 book reviews
The Canadian Armed Forces have canceled a project to boil the ocean in an attempt to bring enemy submarines to the surface that they might be more easily spotted by their (sole) reconisance plane.
Proud to be a Canadian, with an English sense of humour. Really, I'm glad about the decision, but just how they would attempt such a thing is beyond me.
Ken
Glad to be a Canuck!
http://www.oanet.com/dsl
There are several other companies offering Xdsl services in Alberta as well.
:wq
...I would *never* have believed that the CRTC would ever make an intelligent decision regarding communications and broadcasting. My faith in my home country is restored. For once in my life, I'm glad I live north of the 49th.
If only our southern neighbors' governments would take a cue, we could have a nice, communications-friendly continent. I'm not sure what the situation is in Mexico, though... Anyone from there have any info on regulation?
Just a note:
There are other companies in Canada offering ADSL service. In Calgary you can get ADSL through CADVision (www.cadvision.com) and others.
Be smart and work to create. Don't ride on the backs of others.
"...only one in Canda offering DSL..."
Um, here in pissant little Vernon, BC, population 30 000... www.cnx.com is offering DSL. Before Sympatico, even.
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Dont complain about the pricing, from what I hear about rates in the states DSL and cable is both comparatively cheap up here.
Be thankful for what you have... and actually Shaw aint bad... the quality of the service can be poor (just like the reception on your TV), but when it works it flies, the cable modem is fast enough... most sites are much slower than I am. Until the nets pipes are improved a cable modem isnt the weak link.
Complexity Happens
Ok, the Canadian government is no longer letting me down (as much :).
So let's just get back to cheap CD-Rs and I'll be a content geek!
Now all we need to do is make Dan Quayle realize that he didn't invent the internet...
;-P
----------------------------------------
...tho i wish it had been corrected by a non-flamer
...A view of the Universe functioning...
;-)
----------------------------------------
Al Gore said he 'Helped create the internet', which is true, to a degree. There were a few interviews with generally accepted 'fathers of the internet' who acknowledged Gore made quite a contribution to the net, and it wouldn't be where it was today without him.
Not that I like the guy anyhow.
-lx
No, what you have is an entire population fearing itself. I'd rather fear criminals than the entire populace. I think I'd probably take comfort in knowing that most people DON'T have guns, not the other way around, thank you.
-lx
If you think that people are singling you out to bully you around, you've got more problems than we can address here. What people are trying to do is keep sociopaths like yourself from running around 'defending yourself' all the time.
it's a homicide. And one that might have been prevented had the victim been able to defend himself.
BS. With two people with guns, we're more or less guaranteed to have at least one dead person, if not more.
Look at the old west when more citizens carried handguns.
Brilliant. Look at the old west where innocent people got lynched due to mob mentality. Look at the old west where there weren't as many specific laws in place as there are today. Look at the old west, where guns only shot 6 bullets before having to reload.
Everyone having guns will not make you feel more safe anymore than every country in the world having nuclear weapons would make you feel safe. If everyone was a rational person, guns would be unnecessary, but the reason most people want a gun is the reason they shouldn't be allowed to have one - because there's a lot of nuts with guns out there.
Handguns should be banned, there is no legitimate purpose for them other than to kill other humans - and idea that apparently doesn't bother you.
If you want to stop gun crime, stop the crime*, not the guns.
Well, valiant man with a gun, how do you propose we stop the crime? By educational programs reminding people that shooting others is wrong? By distributing more guns? The crime of murder with firearms would not exist if there were no firearms. If more people were man enough to give up their guns, we'd have a lot less to fear in this country.
-lx
>>That means that 9 times out of 10 when a gun >> goes off, it's a tragedy. > > New math? 9 times out of 10, it's a homicide. Homicide, suicide, or accident. And, in the cases of homicide and accident especially, one which could well have been non-fatal had a gun not been available (most homicides are spur-of- the-moment crimes of passion or opportunity and, of course, all accients are spontaneous).
-- Meet the Residents -- http://www.residents.com/
as soon as some american grows a brain big enough to try to make it one.
I have to admit, the decision NOT to regulate the internet, is great news but I was looking forward to having a good laugh at my governments expense.
I was hoping for some sort of regulation, just to have our ideas of freedom of speech put under a microscope.
But Canada may be changing. That would be better than I could ever hope for. Maybe we can finally rid ourselves of this thinly veiled social/theological structure that has dominated Canada for far too long.
Subverse
PS.
I think that there is still the matter of a tax levy on ISP's to support "canadian content" whatever that is.
Freedom, Dissent and Hot Chicks
Unbelievable, this isn't a true victory though...
As I recall the main reason for the probe was that the small ISP's were taking it up the I/O port by the big Telcos, and Cablecos entering the market. The Telcos definately are not playing fair.
Still a big win IMHO. Now if I can get them to ease up on the TV regs I may even be able to watch the superbowl w/ U.S. commercials (the only time I can say I prefer U.S. tv)
Back to the grind....
Wow, I'm really impressed that our government, especially a regulatory arm that consists mostly of ex-monopoly Bell employees, chose to "do the right thing" and keep their hands off the Internet (for now). Seems to me that everytime I start slipping into the pit of political apathy, along comes a glimmer of hope. Now if only we could resolve this idiotic tariffing situation with the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Acts, we could really get some convergence happening...
-- People who think they know it all, really annoy those of us who do!
Here in New Brunswick we have the telco vs the cable provider for high-speed access. ADSL vs Cable modems. The cable provider was the underdog but it just got bought out by Shaw, so we still need to wait and see what happens between the 2 ISP's now...
Just a SkiBum stuck in the east...
Right on!
Quebec bashers suck.
There's a lot of diversity of opinion in Quebec and out. Knee-jerk anti-Quebec crap makes me ill.
(Some people in Quebec even use Linux)
[We don't come from a planet. We come from a grid sector.]
Degrassi rocked.
And Gordie would disagree with you I imagine.
[We don't come from a planet. We come from a grid sector.]
Anyway, before she left our place, she asked me if I could burn NT4 Server and SQL Server 6.5 for her. Something in the way she had talked about her "old home system" made me ask what she was going to install it on.
Her answer? "I've got a 486-66 with 16mb of RAM" - and she wanted to do SQL Server development on THAT? :) I tried not to laugh as I explained NT Server would most likely not even boot... ;)
Open Source. Closed Minds. We are Slashdot.
I called Bell/Sympatico the other day and this is what I found out.
Adsl is available on business lines. These lines are the same as residential lines, except they cost more, and don't have some restrictions on them that residential lines do. Adsl is their 2.2 downstream service.
Sympatico High Speed edition is the stripped down version of adsl for residential customers.
The reason for the higher cost of business lines compared to residential lines is part of the profit from business lines goes directly to reducing the cost of residential lines. I believe that this was originally this was so everyone could afford tele service.
Anyways, I'd like to hear if this residential/business line distinction is the same in the US...
Why would anyone want to touch a girl's butt? That's where cooties come from! -Bart
As I wrote back at my site on this story, this was bizarre stuff. Three guesses why the Canadian regulator said what it said, and the first two guesses don't count.
P.
http://www.groksoup.com
At the last superbowl there was a nationwide US poll on why people watched it. I think it was about 10 to 20 percent (I don't remember the exact figures, only that I was shocked) who watched it only for the commercials. Kinda sick or what? People actually submitting themselves to corporate brainwash and enjoying it. Hm.. haven't seen them though.. they send intervies with the players and stuff instead over here. Maybe they're really cool, but I doub it.
Good to hear. However, contrary to popular belief, crypto is not "free" in Canada. For one thing, we have a joint agreement with the U.S. which means American encryption technology may be exported to Canada as long as it remains under the same restrictions once it reaches Canada. (i.e. cannot re-export to the world what we import from the U.S.A.). And there are some other restrictions as well. Click the following links for some more information.
http://insight.mcma ster.ca/org/efc/pages/doc/crypto-export.html
http://axion.physics.ubc.ca/ECL.html
In addition, Canada recently signed on to the multi-national agreement (big word starting with W) which places further restrictions on our freedom with regards to cryptography. What we need is a poster child to challenge the constitutionality of these laws, as you have done in the States.
another insightful NRA self rationalization, on par with the household cold war of "I need a gun to protect myself from other people with guns"
Two reasons one should not dis the NRA:
#1: They are a very powerful lobby organization.
#2: They all have guns.
:o)
main reason for the probe was that the small ISP's were taking it up the I/O port by the big Telcos, and Cablecos entering the market. The Telcos definately are not playing fair.
Although part of the same probe, this was not the ruling made today. (The article mentioned that the jury is still out on that one.) This ruling was whether the CRTC should regulate the Internet the same way it regulates TV (ie. with cancon rules) - they were looking at whether they should institute a tax on the Internet to encourage Canadian Internet content. (Yes, I KNOW - totally dumb-ass question.)
Amazingly enough, the panel had a brief interlude with lucidity, and decided that taxing Internet use was a bad thing.
Control Canadian content on TV and Radio...
(Even people like Anne Murry and Rita McNeal have atributed their sucess to Canadian Content laws)
The CRTC is not going to regulate probably because there is NO WAY to ensure that X percent of web pages are Canadian.
We may be Canadian, but by looking at our television and radio programming you will see that Canadians LOVE American culture... so much infact that it's often hard to notice a difference in what we like to watch and listen to.
Can-con has more to do with economics than with anything else. If many stations had their way, I'd only be able to see "Friends" on all 78 channels here. More money leaving the country, more people leaving the country.
The problem is, can-con can often be some old cheap crap just to satisfy the regulations during the "beaver hour."
It's quite painful here (Newfoundland), where the only private TV station, a radio station, and a paper, are owned by one guy in Arizona. There just happens to be a major culture difference between the North American countries that people don't realise. While there are people in both countries that actually enjoy formulaic sit-coms (shudder) there are more in the States (this isn't a 'dis'). Fact is, it's the American corporations that love to push garbage down people's throats while trying to stay away from any controversy whatsoever that feeds this.
People from the South might think that having a government owned media network (CBC) would be a form of citizen control but it is in fact the converse. The government gets more razzing from their own CBC than they do from anyone else. This is possible due to the lack of traditional corporate ideas there. Ask Rick Mercer, he'll tell you.
You could also ask Michael Moore (Roger and Me) whose TV Nation show (excellent show) was dropped by two broadcasters (NBC and FOX) because it tried to put politicians and greedy corporations in their place. He had to bring the show up here (on Bravo) in order to do it (under a different name, but it's the same great idea, I enjoyed the way he displayed how Kenneth Starr could have saved a lot of taxpayers money by having actors dressed as puritans running around Washington asking politicians if they "fornicate.").
Do you think the National Film Board could have happened in the States. Interestingly, a NFB animated short recently became a series on Comedy Central (Bob and Margaret).
Ok. I've ranted enough.
Wow, the CRTC did something good for a change. Now if only the would let me watch those 5 million dollar super bowl commercials, instead of the 25 dollar tire commercials that over-ride the american signal, I would be happy.
Oh, and Degrassi High is the greatest sign that Can-Con laws suck ass. The Tragicaly Hip would be just as big and just as cool without government protection.
Even accounting for population differences, violent crime, per capita, was far less than it is now. Why? The crooks have less to fear from a de-armed population so they're getting more brazen.
Are you INSANE? You would rather live your life in fear of being shot (and this would subsequently FORCE you and everyone else to behave) ??? Uhh, no thanks.
They are still the only one in Canada offering DSL services and they offer it alledgedly under cost.
Alternatives??? Well there are cable modems too, but they too are a monopoly (1 company per market). Actually, Bell + Cable is a high speed access oligarchy. There doesn't seem to be any offerings from the LD providers (Sprint, AT&T
We do need some kind of regulation against ISP price fixing or predatory pricing -- but stay off the content!
That said, cryptography developed by Canadians would likely have a VERY strong case against export regulations in the courts... The Canadian Supreme Court typically taken a very broad view of expression. The range of what is deemed to be expression is significantly broader in Canada than in the U.S. Mind you, the Crown would likely raise a S. 1 issue if brought to trial...
I've always laughed my arse off at how much trouble Americans have accepting that the internet isn't their's to regulate in the first place... At least here in Canada the gov't has proven that at least one person somewhere has actually double clicked a netscape icon before... But really, if they had tried to regulate it and if for whatever reason my site didn't conform, what's to stop me from moving it to Hong Kong by FTP? I'd like to see Jean Chretien (or any US official next time some paranoid right wing parliamentarien needs extra votes) trying to explain to The People's Liberation Army of China how they are gonna have to go about protecting the minds of North America's kids...
I think the hotly debated issue was the _cost_ of the ADSL that Sympatico/Bell provides, not the service itself. You can get it from a bunch of ISPs, but it'll cost a lot more...
Somebody also mentioned the CRTC stepping in and limiting the services that could be offered... I thought that the reduction from 2.2Mbs to 1Mbs was due to the 'splitterless' Nortel ADSL modem. It saved on installation because they don't have to send a phone guy to your house to install the splitter. And therefore it was more marketable, even with less bandwidth. The average user wouldn't notice the difference when surfing, anyway. Of course, big downloads would be much better on the old service, but that depends on all of the other net issues, not the least of which is the bandwidth of the machine serving you.
Luckily, I got in before they reduced the speed (and price, Doh!), so I get the 2.2Mbs rate for $65/month. And it seems to be a lot faster than my any of the cable modems that my friends have.
(I've never actually tested it, but we have downloaded the same files simultaneously and mine was WAY faster...)
Dozer
"The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they're going to be when you kill them."
Dozer
"The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they're going to be when you kill them."
What kind of off topic stupid post is this!
you evidently, know absolutly nothing of quebec or the canadian economy!
Not ALL quebecers are seperatists.
and if the rest of canada has economical problems that's there own fault. not Quebec!\
We have a wealth of resources and qualified professionals, and dont need canada to survive!
Which doesnt mean I dont want to be a part of canada, it just means we're not dragging it down.
" Microsoft Integration = Inbread software! " SpIcEz
Today I'm proud to be a Canuck!
Nice to see our government will not WASTE its time trying to tame a wild beast who does not wish to be tamed. The Internet works fine in the wild, and as we ALL know, regulations would just hinder its growth.
Now if I can only get the PQ to stop playing with my tax money, we might be getting somewhere!!
"Microsoft integration = Inbread software!
SpIcEz
" Microsoft Integration = Inbread software! " SpIcEz