Well, that was fast!
After 300,000 e-mails were sent to Parliament, the government is set to reverse the CRTC's decision on usage-based billing. Well done, lads! Hope has for once triumphed over greed and cynicism.
I must confess, I am almost shocked - first at how much Canadians actually got behind this issue, but more at the way Parliament is actually responding to our voices. After a long run of decisions that have been good for a few select businesses and bad for just about everyone else, this is a real triumph.
Huzzah!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Fight for the Free* Internet
(Free as in speech, not as in beer.)
By now you may have heard of the CRTC's recent decision to implement "metered internet" - usage-based billing for wired Internet users, much as already exists for smartphone users. This means that your "unlimited" Internet plan (likely already severely limited) will become much more limited, with something like a 25 GB/month cap, and big incremental charges ($1.90 per GB) for excess data. Of course the big companies who own the infrastructure (ie. Bell, Rogers) are all for this plan, and their smaller competitors are forced to adopt the same scheme.
Apparently this decision actually happened some time ago, but now we're about to feel the effects as ISPs are publishing their new price plans:
"Starting on March 1, Ontario TekSavvy members who subscribed to the 5Mbps plan have a new usage cap of 25GB, "substantially down from the 200GB or unlimited deals TekSavvy was able to offer before the CRTC's decision to impose usage based billing."
We're basically seeing a tremendous decrease in the amount of data we get for our dollar:
"Where once TekSavvy consumers could purchase High Speed Internet Premium at a monthly base usage of 200GB for $31.95 a month, now they can get about half of that data (if they buy two units of insurance) at $41.45 a month."
You can read the articles for all the details, but here's the bottom line:
For years, Canada has been behind the rest of the world in telecommunications service. This will only make things worse.
The major effect of this per-gigabyte billing structure is to discourage high-bandwidth activities, such as video streaming, music downloads, internet telephony, gaming, content creation and sharing - essentially, everything that has made the Internet such a wonderful tool for social and commercial activity. To avoid overage charges, users would be limited to the most banal of online activities: e-mail, chat, browsing and shopping, with maybe a few Youtube videos and not much else.
As Internet technologies have developed and progressed, we've moved more and more of our activities (and consumption) online. We are no longer locked to the technologies that have proven profitable for the industries that provide content (music CDs, television, etc.), and those industries are struggling to find ways to keep their profits high in the face of a changing world. It is not easy to make fundamental changes to your business model, so of course the companies that run these industries have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
The CRTC has, of course, always been in the telecom companies' pocket. And the results? Here's one example that boggles my mind: Canada is way behind the rest of the developed world, and even much of the developing world, in cell phone adoption. Canada's mobile penetration: 65%. Compare that with the rest of the developed world. UK mobile penetration - 122%. Hong Kong - 150%. Montenegro - 192%. Even poorer countries are well ahead of us in adoption of mobile technology. We're behind Lebanon, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran... And all because of our government's willingness to let a few big players do whatever they want.
And here we are again, protecting the profits of big businesses at the expense of growth and social progress. Rather than allowing technological change to fuel innovation and carry our country into the future, the CRTC is content to force us to remain tethered to old technologies and old ways of doing things while the rest of the world passes us by.
Sure, this may stop a few illegal downloads - and that is doubtless part of the CRTC's rationale for this decision, considering all we've heard in the past few years about piracy and copyright reform. But that's just a cover. In our world of vertical integration and huge conglomerates, these telecoms have a profit interest not only in increasing our monthly bills, but also in keeping us tied to cable television, CDs, long-distance phone calls, print journalism, and all those other technologies that feel threatened by the Internet. The Internet offers unfathomable opportunities for new modes of expression, social life, and even commercial consumption - but we're being artificially held back as those who control the lines cling desperately to their established way of doing things.
With this decision, the Canadian government has struck a blow against progress.
So what can we do about it? Forget petitions, Facebook groups, all that crap. We need to speak out against this insanity, directly. Write to your MPs. Overwhelm their inboxes. There are a few great sites that will send an e-mail on your behalf: so click over there and speak out. It takes almost zero effort, but the more voices they hear, the more likely our government will be to realize that this isn't what we want - and it isn't the sort of thing that will keep them in office.
Let's fight for a free Internet.
By now you may have heard of the CRTC's recent decision to implement "metered internet" - usage-based billing for wired Internet users, much as already exists for smartphone users. This means that your "unlimited" Internet plan (likely already severely limited) will become much more limited, with something like a 25 GB/month cap, and big incremental charges ($1.90 per GB) for excess data. Of course the big companies who own the infrastructure (ie. Bell, Rogers) are all for this plan, and their smaller competitors are forced to adopt the same scheme.
Apparently this decision actually happened some time ago, but now we're about to feel the effects as ISPs are publishing their new price plans:
"Starting on March 1, Ontario TekSavvy members who subscribed to the 5Mbps plan have a new usage cap of 25GB, "substantially down from the 200GB or unlimited deals TekSavvy was able to offer before the CRTC's decision to impose usage based billing."
We're basically seeing a tremendous decrease in the amount of data we get for our dollar:
"Where once TekSavvy consumers could purchase High Speed Internet Premium at a monthly base usage of 200GB for $31.95 a month, now they can get about half of that data (if they buy two units of insurance) at $41.45 a month."
You can read the articles for all the details, but here's the bottom line:
For years, Canada has been behind the rest of the world in telecommunications service. This will only make things worse.
The major effect of this per-gigabyte billing structure is to discourage high-bandwidth activities, such as video streaming, music downloads, internet telephony, gaming, content creation and sharing - essentially, everything that has made the Internet such a wonderful tool for social and commercial activity. To avoid overage charges, users would be limited to the most banal of online activities: e-mail, chat, browsing and shopping, with maybe a few Youtube videos and not much else.
As Internet technologies have developed and progressed, we've moved more and more of our activities (and consumption) online. We are no longer locked to the technologies that have proven profitable for the industries that provide content (music CDs, television, etc.), and those industries are struggling to find ways to keep their profits high in the face of a changing world. It is not easy to make fundamental changes to your business model, so of course the companies that run these industries have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
The CRTC has, of course, always been in the telecom companies' pocket. And the results? Here's one example that boggles my mind: Canada is way behind the rest of the developed world, and even much of the developing world, in cell phone adoption. Canada's mobile penetration: 65%. Compare that with the rest of the developed world. UK mobile penetration - 122%. Hong Kong - 150%. Montenegro - 192%. Even poorer countries are well ahead of us in adoption of mobile technology. We're behind Lebanon, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran... And all because of our government's willingness to let a few big players do whatever they want.
And here we are again, protecting the profits of big businesses at the expense of growth and social progress. Rather than allowing technological change to fuel innovation and carry our country into the future, the CRTC is content to force us to remain tethered to old technologies and old ways of doing things while the rest of the world passes us by.
Sure, this may stop a few illegal downloads - and that is doubtless part of the CRTC's rationale for this decision, considering all we've heard in the past few years about piracy and copyright reform. But that's just a cover. In our world of vertical integration and huge conglomerates, these telecoms have a profit interest not only in increasing our monthly bills, but also in keeping us tied to cable television, CDs, long-distance phone calls, print journalism, and all those other technologies that feel threatened by the Internet. The Internet offers unfathomable opportunities for new modes of expression, social life, and even commercial consumption - but we're being artificially held back as those who control the lines cling desperately to their established way of doing things.
With this decision, the Canadian government has struck a blow against progress.
So what can we do about it? Forget petitions, Facebook groups, all that crap. We need to speak out against this insanity, directly. Write to your MPs. Overwhelm their inboxes. There are a few great sites that will send an e-mail on your behalf: so click over there and speak out. It takes almost zero effort, but the more voices they hear, the more likely our government will be to realize that this isn't what we want - and it isn't the sort of thing that will keep them in office.
Let's fight for a free Internet.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Being a Daring librarian
Back in October, in our class, Foundations of Library and Information Science, we had our choice of major assignments. Either we could create an annotated bibliography on a current issue in librarianship, or we could get out in the world and do a Dare for the Stephen Lewis foundation. Well, I had entered librarianship in part because I wanted to get away from writing things that had little consequence in the real world and to make an impact and engage with the people, so I, along with a group of fantastic fellow students, embarked on a library-related Dare.
We had no idea that Street Reference would become a phenomenon.
The reaction has been incredible, and a bit overwhelming. The Dare took off when we got in touch with the Ontario Library Association (OLA), with a fantastic response from librarians. We ended up featured on the faculty Web site. Our promotional blurb was printed in Feliciter. Then I was asked to write an article for OLA's Access magazine. And today, Katya and myself went along with representatives from other universities to the Stephen Lewis Foundation to discuss the event, fundraising, activism, how to engage university campuses... and to have dinner with Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis.
It's a bit overwhelming to get all this attention, to get so many rewards when you don't expect them. I entered librarianship without much of a path in mind, without any particular expectations, but these amazing projects keep opening themselves up to me. An assignment about modes of transmitting information which my team and I put way too much effort into ended up getting broadcast to the entire faculty. A required course ended up being a huge project about creating an on-demand book service for First Nations communities in remote areas (taught by the same professor who gave us the Dare assignment), which I'll probably stay attached to for a while. And then the Dare, which will hopefully become an annual event, performed by librarians in cities all over Ontario as they learn about the idea.
Getting engaged with the real world is something you don't expect out of a university program, and it's incredible how many opportunities we actually have to do so. Working with the Stephen Lewis Foundation has been a privilege, and I'm honoured to be one of the people consulted about how to encourage involvement on campuses and beyond. I've always thought of myself as a pretty quiet person, but looking back on the things I do, getting out there, getting noticed, and working with people seems to be a talent of mine. It's reaped some immense rewards - I'm not even finished my second term yet. And it could do so for librarians in general, too.
We've got to get out there and get engaged. You wouldn't believe how interested and responsive people are when you get out and talk to them and tell them what you're doing. I've seen a lot of wonderful things librarians are doing, but you don't know about them unless you're looking for them, or you're part of the profession. People respond to activism. And people like it when you talk to them. It's time to get out of the stacks and into the streets.
We had no idea that Street Reference would become a phenomenon.
The reaction has been incredible, and a bit overwhelming. The Dare took off when we got in touch with the Ontario Library Association (OLA), with a fantastic response from librarians. We ended up featured on the faculty Web site. Our promotional blurb was printed in Feliciter. Then I was asked to write an article for OLA's Access magazine. And today, Katya and myself went along with representatives from other universities to the Stephen Lewis Foundation to discuss the event, fundraising, activism, how to engage university campuses... and to have dinner with Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis.
It's a bit overwhelming to get all this attention, to get so many rewards when you don't expect them. I entered librarianship without much of a path in mind, without any particular expectations, but these amazing projects keep opening themselves up to me. An assignment about modes of transmitting information which my team and I put way too much effort into ended up getting broadcast to the entire faculty. A required course ended up being a huge project about creating an on-demand book service for First Nations communities in remote areas (taught by the same professor who gave us the Dare assignment), which I'll probably stay attached to for a while. And then the Dare, which will hopefully become an annual event, performed by librarians in cities all over Ontario as they learn about the idea.
Getting engaged with the real world is something you don't expect out of a university program, and it's incredible how many opportunities we actually have to do so. Working with the Stephen Lewis Foundation has been a privilege, and I'm honoured to be one of the people consulted about how to encourage involvement on campuses and beyond. I've always thought of myself as a pretty quiet person, but looking back on the things I do, getting out there, getting noticed, and working with people seems to be a talent of mine. It's reaped some immense rewards - I'm not even finished my second term yet. And it could do so for librarians in general, too.
We've got to get out there and get engaged. You wouldn't believe how interested and responsive people are when you get out and talk to them and tell them what you're doing. I've seen a lot of wonderful things librarians are doing, but you don't know about them unless you're looking for them, or you're part of the profession. People respond to activism. And people like it when you talk to them. It's time to get out of the stacks and into the streets.
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