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Google Inc. says Bell Canada and other telecommunications companies that slow or restrict certain types of Internet traffic are violating Canadian law and is calling on federal watchdogs to put a stop to the process.
The technology titan calls Bell's practice of slowing or “shaping certain forms of Internet traffic” – mostly peer-to-peer file transfers – “unjust discrimination” and says the practice should be prohibited in Canada, in a recent filing with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
“The Internet is simply too important to allow [Bell and other broadband Internet access services] to act as such a gatekeeper; the Internet's myriad benefits can only be fully realized when Canadian carriers allow end users to choose the applications and content they prefer,” Google says in its filing.
“Protecting end user choice is the central issue in this proceeding, but also a much larger issue. It goes to the heart of the Internet and how it acts as an extraordinary platform for innovation and fair competition.”
Google's comments, which were filed with the CRTC on July 3 and made public by the CRTC over the weekend, were submitted in support of a complaint brought forth by the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP), a group of independent Internet service providers (ISPs) who lease network access from Bell.
Bell Canada – a division of Montreal-based BCE Inc. – has faced harsh criticism from CAIP and other proponents of the unwritten rule of “net neutrality” over its policies regarding the flow of content on its network. CAIP is alleging that Bell is illegally managing their subscribers' traffic.
Net neutrality supporters argue that all Web traffic must be treated equally and that slowing down certain data is both undemocratic and illegal. Bell and other ISPs who shape traffic argue that if they didn't employ such techniques, peer-to-peer file sharers would clog their networks, leading to slower speeds for all consumers.
The CRTC expects to make a ruling on the CAIP complaint some time in September. Last month, however, the head of the CRTC said that a broad investigation into the way Canadian ISPs manage the traffic on their networks was likely.
“The CAIP complaint is really only the tip of the iceberg,” CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein told a telecom conference last month. “Sooner or later – hopefully later – this is going to evolve into a major consultation ... It seems to be inevitable.”
Google's 15-page complaint lauds the Internet as an open platform that should be accessible to anyone and “facilitates unparalleled social, political, cultural and economic innovation.”
“The commission should make clear in this proceeding that at least blocking or degrading applications of consumers' choice is prohibited in Canada because it is not technologically and competitively neutral,” Google says in the filing.
“This proceeding offers the Commission an opportunity to start to draw a line against telecom measures that are not technologically and competitively neutral – protecting consumers, competition and innovation.”
