source - https://openmedia.ca/saveournet/faq

What is this about?
Net neutrality is an issue that primarily concerns how the Internet will function in the future. Canada’s Internet service providers (ISPs) are trying to deviate from the idea of leaving the Internet as a neutral playing field for those who upload and access content, which raises the question of how we, as users, want the Internet to work for us. Canadians must choose how the choose to understand the Internet: as a common conduit in which all information is treated equally, or as a place where preferential treatment is given to certain types of information and applications by the companies that control access to the Internet.

What is net neutrality?
Network neutrality can be considered a founding principle of the Internet. With a few small exceptions, it is the de facto standard of non-discriminatory treatment that has governed the traffic of digital information up to this point. Outside of limited exceptions such as spam and known viruses, the companies that deliver information over the Internet have treated all content equally, delivering each package of information as quickly and efficiently as possible. This is often referred to as the “best efforts” Internet. Under this regime, an Internet user is free to use any equipment, content, application or service on a non-discriminatory basis without interference from the network provider. Net neutrality means that the network provider’s only job is to move data – not to choose which data to privilege with higher quality service.

Why is net neutrality important?
Network neutrality drives economic innovation, democratic participation, and free speech online. Many of today’s most successful applications were able to develop because a neutral playing field allowed them to develop alongside other more dominant, pre-existing players. Without some basic protection for net neutrality, an oligopoly of phone and cable companies will be in a position to control the information that travels over the Internet in Canada, possibly cutting restrictive deals with the highest bidding companies and shunting aside innovators, small businesses and entrepreneurs. In this situation, the network operators will be able to choose winners and losers. In a neutral network, it is the users who have the power to choose which applications will be successful.

Is net neutrality a new idea?
No. In fact, if you have ever plugged in a toaster or used a telephone, you are already familiar with the concept of network neutrality: companies that carry the signals over the network do so in a non-discriminatory way; no one customer is favoured over another. Electricity, railways, public roads and the telephone are all examples of highly successful neutral networks. Net neutrality is the latest instance of the basic legal and engineering principle known as “common carriage”, which is over 125 years old and which has been a cornerstone of Canada’s telecommunications infrastructure.

What is the problem?
Canada’s telecommunications laws, while prohibiting “unjust discrimination” and interference with content by telecommunications carriers, does not adequately enforce net neutrality. The existing laws do not adequately prevent the possibility of ISPs offering tiered services to content providers, thereby turning the internet into a two-tiered network on which corporate content is prioritized over other content. In the end, those with deep pockets will end up in the “fast lane”, while all other Internet content providers will be relegated to a much slower lane.

Another problem is ISP “traffic-shaping”: a practice in which providers slow down certain types of traffic (such as peer-to-peer file sharing) in order to make space for other traffic on an ostensibly congested network. This is widely believed to qualify as “unjust discrimination” under the Telecommunications Act and a violation of the principle of network neutrality, but providers continue to defend the practice as just and legal.

Who wants to get rid of net neutrality?
Large telecommunications companies have expressed the opinion that, in an age of growing bandwidth use, network neutrality is neither feasible nor desirable. These companies, carrying almost all the traffic of Canadian Internet users, are in a position to play gatekeeper: deciding which web sites load fast or slow, and which won't load at all. They have expressed interest in charging content providers to guarantee speedy delivery of their data. They also have the ability to discriminate in favour of their own search engines, Internet phone services, and video streaming services – while slowing down or blocking their competitors.
These companies have a new vision for the Internet: instead of a level playing field, they want to reserve express lanes for their own content and services – for those from big corporations that can afford the steep tolls – and leave the rest of us on the slow lane. These Internet provider are lobbying Ottawa and the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to refrain from applying network neutrality principles to the Internet, as this would close-off enormous revenues from their ownership of the Internet’s physical architecture, which they retain in large part from their history as government funded and protected monopolies.

Who stands to lose if Canada loses net neutrality?
The big losers will be small and medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, independent media, and content producers. These groups, the very people who have made the Internet the success it is today, will find themselves at a huge disadvantage vis-à-vis those companies who have the financial resources to purchase faster access to Internet users. Without net neutrality, Canada’s phone and cable oligopoly will be in the position to leverage their control over the Internet’s physical channels to reap large profits from those able to pay, while labour groups, public interest groups, NGOs, small business, new media businesses, and everyday citizens will have limited access to the wider world. In this environment, small businesses and start-ups will be unable to compete, and innovation and cultural production will once again be controlled by the large corporate and governmental bodies. Ironically, this is exactly the type of society from which many hope Internet will free us from.

Do you want the Canadian government to regulate the internet?
Not necessarily. Just as companies should not be in a position to decide what content is of ‘value’ on the Internet, neither should the government. We do, however, want them to safeguard a principle that has been part of the Internet since the very beginning. The common carrier provisions, prohibiting telecommunication carriers from interfering with the content they carry, have been in place for over a century and offer a good place to start.

What's happening in Canada?
The CRTC has established traffic management rules over broadband Internet services to prevent content discrimination and preference, delaying techniques and content blocking by Internet service providers. Traffic management rules are also applicable to wireless Internet services and mobile wireless data services. In attempt to shape the future of Canada’s digital economy, the Canadian government also opened up their digital strategy consultation to the public, inviting citizens to contribute their thoughts and ideas through online participation.
However, under these new guidelines, the CRTC will not enforce its own framework and instead, the onus falls on the consumer to file a complaint and prove that an ISP is unjustly throttling (degrading) the Internet. It is unfair to force consumers to somehow obtain the technical and policy expertise to make their case effectively before the CRTC, and to also out-maneuver some of most powerful businesses in the country. Industry Minister Tony Clement can stop Internet service providers from controlling our use of the Internet by asking the CRTC to conduct regular compliance audits of ISP traffic management practices. This would effectively make net neutrality a practical reality in Canada.

What’s happening in the U.S.?
President Barack Obama has continually expressed his support for net neutrality. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission has been discussing the reclassification of broadband as a telecommunications service. Derived from the responses received from citizens’ online participation, the FCC has initiated the National Broadband Plan to establish set rules that encompass wireless and broadband services to ensure that the telecommunication sector in the United States functions for the public interest. However, the situation is not completely stable as nearly 300 Congress representatives have banded together to warn the FCC against the protection of net neutrality.

What do we need in Canada to protect Net Neutrality?
The Canadian government needs to acknowledge that the Internet is more than just a technology or commodity – it has become a vital piece of Canada’s social and economic infrastructure. Canada needs a plan and principles for this infrastructure, the same way we did with electricity, railways and the telephone. That plan should be about facilitating competition in online content and applications, keeping barriers to a minimum, and promoting innovation and free speech. The government’s current hands-off and “market based” approach fails to value these essential considerations. It’s up to us to tell the Canadian government that the Internet needs to be viewed as more than just a valuable business proposition.

We need to ensure that the laws and regulations governing telecommunications in Canada adequately protect Net Neutrality and stop ISPs from abusing their powers as information gatekeepers.

What is SaveOurNet.ca?
A coalition of citizens, businesses and public interest groups want Ottawa to stop the Telcos from violating the principle of an open, neutral Internet.

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