The Case for Net Neutrality in Canada

The Case for Net Neutrality in Canada Toward a nondiscriminatory internet for all Andrew Clement & Graham Longford Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN.ca) Faculty of Information Studies University of Toronto More information: creativecomons.org MET Executive Development Program University of Toronto May 14, 2007 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-commercial and Share Alike 3.0 License Overview       What is Net See ATT/BellSouth Neutrality? The Internet is essential Why does it matter? Bell, mainly Who controls the Internet in Canada? Yes, they are beginning Are there violations of NN? Six proposed principles How would a Neutral Net operate? Almost everyone Who would benefit? 2 What is Net Neutrality? definitions  Some “All packets are treated equally” - FIFO, best effort, …  “Net neutrality means simply that all like Internet content must be treated alike and move at the same speed over the network. The owner‟s of the Internet‟s wires cannot discriminate” (Lessig and McChesney, 2006)  “The First Amendment of the Internet”  “The Equal Access Provision” (Moyers)  “[N]et neutrality, … at the core is the commitment to ensuring that Internet service providers treat all content and applications equally with no privileges, degrading of service or prioritization based on the content‟s source, ownership or destination.” (Geist, Feb 26, 2007) 3 … “AT&T/BellSouth… commits that it will maintain a neutral network and neutral routing in its wireline broadband Internet access service. This commitment shall be satisfied by AT&T/BellSouth‟s agreement not to provide or to sell to Internet content, application, or service providers, including those affiliated with AT&T/BellSouth, any service that privileges, degrades or prioritizes any packet transmitted over AT&T/BellSouth‟s wireline broadband Internet access service based on its source, ownership or destination.” (letter to FCC, Dec 28, 2006) "AT&T will not block or degrade traffic, period. … And we won't change (our position) no matter what sky-is-falling rhetoric you hear. Markets work best when consumers have choices.” (CNET, Mar 21, 2006) AT&T Chief Ed Whitacre 4 The Internet is an essential communication service     Commerce Entertainment Culture Democracy … “Freedom of communication is an essential prerequisite for the restoration of the health of our democracy. … It is particularly important that the freedom of the Internet be protected against either the encroachment of government or the efforts at control by large media conglomerates. The future of our democracy depends on it.” (Jan 16, 2006) Al Gore 5 Do our Internet providers warrant public trust? Main threats:  Potential abuses of market (and technical) power    Will powerful carriers give preference to their own and affiliated content, while degrading competitors? Will they exploit congestion to maximize profits? Will they block competitive entry, public oversight and remedial intervention? 6  Lack of transparency and accountability Canada? Part I - ‘First mile’ (or ‘last mile’)  Residential internet service .. in many markets resembles a duopoly between incumbent telcos and cablecos  Combined revenue market shares: 2005: 85% 2004: 82%   The four largest ISPs in Canada (Bell, Telus, Rogers, and Shaw) have steadily increased their share of revenue from the retail Internet access market, from 44% in 2001 to 63% in 2005. Between them, incumbents and cablecos have cornered almost 96% of all high speed subscriptions. (2006) Telecommunications Monitoring Report 2006 CRTC 7 Canada? Part II - Internet core/backbone Bell Canada alone dominates the internet core in Canada See: http://blogs.cio.com/ who_owns_the_internet_ we_have_a_map_that_shows_you? 8 The Internet Core (in North America) Bell • bell.ca • bellnexxia • bellglobal • sympatico 9 10 http://blogs.cio.com/who_owns_the_internet_we_have_a_map_that_shows_you? 11 Canada       Telus: blocked “Voices for Change” web site (& 766 other sites) Videotron: CEO Depatie calls for “transmission tariffs” Shaw: QoS surcharge for VoIP competitor Vonage; QoS not available to resellers e.g. Cybersurf Rogers: Discriminatory traffic degradation  e.g. Bit Torrent and encrypted traffic (Geist, 2007) Bell: exclusive VoIP partnership with Clearwire MCI Canada: evicted Epifora web hosting service 'Our position on network diversity/neutrality is that it should be determined by market forces, not regulation.'-Jacqueline Michelis of Bell Canada, CP Nov 2, 2006 12 Non-violations Not all forms of traffic prioritization and blocking are necessarily violations of net neutrality. Non-discriminatory service class prioritization  low-latency applications (VoIP, video conferencing) Differential pricing for different classes of traffic Security threats Major service impairment threats  Port 25 spam blocking, DDOS attacks, … 13 Principles for a neutral Internet        Basic broadband service Common carriage Open Transparent Privacy protective Accountable … 14 Principles for a neutral Internet        Basic broadband service Common carriage Open Transparent Privacy protective Accountable … Broadband network operators should provide "Basic Access Broadband," a meaningful, neutral Internet connectivity service, [capable of handling all major application classes]. Beyond providing this level of service, operators would be free to determine all service parameters. See Annenberg Center Principles for Net 15 Neutrality Principles for a neutral Internet        Basic broadband service Common carriage Open Transparent Privacy protective Accountable … Broadband network operators should maintain a strict separation between network carriage infrastructures and the content and services offered over them. They must ensure nondiscriminatory access and interconnection to competitors, including municipalities and public utilities, as well as data and content service providers. 16 Principles for a neutral Internet        Basic broadband service Common carriage Open Transparent Privacy protective Accountable … Network infrastructures at all layers should be based on open architectures, standards and protocols, especially for interconnection and interoperability with other networks and devices. 17 Principles for a neutral Internet        Basic broadband service Common carriage Open Transparent Privacy protective Accountable … Network operators should make available to customers, citizens and oversight bodies in clear and understandable terms their service offerings, prices, terms of interconnection and peering agreements, as well as other aspects of their operation of vital public interest. Where operator actions may impair service, they need to provide clear notice and justifications. 18 Principles for a neutral Internet        Basic broadband service Common carriage Open Transparent Privacy protective Accountable … In keeping with legislative requirements and common carrier principles, network operators should keep personal information secure and under customer control. No „back-doors‟ and deep packet inspection. Surveillance activities should be strictly limited in scope and demonstrably lawful. 19 Principles for a neutral Internet        Basic broadband service Common carriage Open Transparent Privacy protective Accountable … Network operators should be held accountable to legitimate and effective public bodies charged with promoting the public interest. Any regulations developed should be clearly justifiable for meeting core societal goals, including affordability, universality, equity, safety and national sovereignty. 20 Principles for a neutral Internet        Basic broadband service Common carriage Open Transparent Privacy protective Accountable … Together, these principles would promote: • Customer choice • Competitive entry • Service innovation • Democratic governance • Public trust 21 Who benefits from a neutral net?         Consumers - e-shoppers, music fans,… Citizens - advocacy movements, free speechers, .. Small businesses Media enterprises - Google, Yahoo, … Internet entrepreneurs - YouTube, Myspace, … Equipment manufacturers - Cisco, … Telecom entrants - Vonage, Skype… „Market forces‟ advocates 22 Who does NOT benefit from NN?   Large, incumbent, vertically-integrated carriers Manufacturers of traffic shaping/filtering devices 23 interest Will network operators win enduring public trust? or Will we need Net Neutrality legislation in 24