The document discusses net neutrality and the issues around internet service providers prioritizing or throttling certain types of internet traffic. It provides background on net neutrality and how some ISPs are throttling bittorrent traffic. It also discusses the debate around net neutrality in Canada, including key figures on both sides like Michael Geist who advocates for strong net neutrality regulations, and Industry Minister Jim Prentice who argues ISPs should set their own limits.

1. Net Neutrality: What is it? Net Neutrality (NN) is the principal that all data traffic on the internet should be treated equally by internet service providers (ISP’s) Currently, NN is a major issue of importance to everyone who uses the internet. Because of a lack of oversight and regulation, ISP’s are congesting parts of the ‘Information Super-Highway’ and giving priority to some data flow while hampering others, for example, slowing down Bittorrent file-sharing, while giving priority to their own products and services. Unlimited bandwidth (data flow) is a thing of the past, and internet premiums have gone up, while surfing speeds have gone down. The end result would result in an internet experience much like this:

2. These are the implications: 2007, www.enigmacurry.com

6. How does your ISP feel about Net Neutrality? The graph to the left shows the major Canadian ISP’s and their policies towards bandwidth usage. The closer to the top, the more absolute their policy. The lower, the more arbitrary. The chart upon which this data was based was compiled by bit-torrent enthusiasts at http://www.azureuswiki.com/index.php/Bad_ISPs

8. Where’s the public debate? Although this is a crucial issue, many across both America and Canada are sorely under-informed as to what is at stake. The cartoon to the left illustrates this point and shows the multiple sides of the debate in a satirical fashion. Most of those pushing for Net Neutrality are young people, paying their own internet bills for the first time and accustomed to downloading and using streaming content sites like Youtube and Pandora, not their parents generation, which for a long time was the first and only group demographic group paying for internet access. Basically, if the people who pay the bills don’t care about Net Neutrality, it all starts to sound like whining from downloading pirates, on-line gamers and other such ‘nerds’. The public thinks that it won’t affect them, as their own internet use is marginal. Nothing could be further from the truth.