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Glad to have you here but remember, you could be spending your time more wisely. Family, friends, maybe even your job if you are really pushed for something to do. David also writes the Building Our Home Blog as well as the wildly popular Dave’s Mindscape

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Internet Metering and the CRTC

The Chairman of the CRTC, Konrad von Finckenstein, says "We are convinced that Internet services are no different than other public utilities and the vast majority of Internet users should not be asked to subsidize a small minority of heavy users".
That’s scary.
If “Internet services” are like public utilities, we could be put into a situation like Ontario power users who are paying extra for investment in green power, solar and wind, which is a good thing, but at the same time are still paying extra for “debt retirement”.
What’s debt retirement? Well, the public utility said it didn’t charge us enough for the electricity it sold us. Sounds like bad management to me. Seems they were a billion in debt so they did the only thing they could reasonably do. Gave a million dollar bonus to the CEO and saddled the public with extra charges for electricity they had already paid for. Imagine pulling that at your local gas station? Dave, we made a mistake and didn’t charge you enough every time you filled up these past few years, so we’ll be tacking on an extra charge for the foreseeable future. We’ll let you know when we’ve got enough. Have a nice day!
Back to the Internet.
The ISP’s build their networks with considerations (money, favors) from the government who gets its money from us. The ISP’s charge us for access to their networks (paid for by us and the government) then they shape and throttle the access we have and now want to charge more.
The scary part?
What if the CRTC decides ISP’s can charge for what you’ve already viewed? I’m already regretting hours of YouTubing.
Wait. What if this spreads to television? All those reruns of MASH, Gilligan’s Island, Friends…
Seriously, the ISPs are not talking about capping the “small minority of heavy users”, they want to gouge the “vast majority of Internet users”.
Makes cent$.

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