Media Advisory
October 20, 2009

In the coming days, The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission is expected to hand down a decision in regards to the controversial issue of Internet Service Provider traffic management, otherwise called “throttling”. SaveOurNet.ca coordinator Steve Anderson will be available for comment after the ruling is announced.

Contact:
Steve Anderson
National Coordinator
SaveOurNet.ca
steve@democraticmedia.ca
(604-837-5730)

Background:
The CRTC hearings took place the week of July 6-10 and SaveOurNet.ca coalition members presented a strong case for maintaining the open Internet in Canada. The SaveOurNet.ca presentation included testimony from Internet experts Dr. David Reed of MIT, Dr. Andrew Odlyzko of the Minnesota Internet Traffic Studies (MINTS) project, and Bill St. Arnaud, Chief Research Officer for CANARIE Inc., Canada's Advanced Internet Development Organization, alongside David Fewer, Acting Director at CIPPIC, and Steve Anderson, National Coordinator of SaveOurNet.ca and OpenMedia.ca.

Steve Anderson brought citizen voices into the hearing, focusing on the 12,000+ comments sent to the CRTC by Canadians. He highlighted that the CRTC works for the Canadian people and that their decisions will have an impact on consumer choice, innovation and free speech.

The CRTC chairman noted that the coalition brought "eminent experts" to the hearing and used them as resources to clear up some technical questions the commission had been struggling with. Commissioner Denton described the principles SaveOurNet.ca laid out as being ones on which there was "broad agreement." The CRTC has also been on the receiving end of an intense and well-funded public relations campaign by the big telco and big cable.

There is extreme public pressure for the CRTC to layout firm rules maintaining the open Internet after the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US recently announced plans to expand their rules to protect a free and open Internet.

Any decision that does not lay out firm rules with adequate repercussions will be considered a betrayal of the interests of citizens, civil society and businesses across the country.

Contact:
Steve Anderson
Coordinator
SaveOurNet.ca
(604) 837-5730
Steve@democraticmedia.ca
http://saveournet.ca