Does the CRTC need more powers to regulate the internet?

The CRTC today is hearing arguments on how independent internet service providers are billed by large internet service providers such as Bell, an issue known as usage-based billing.

Large ISPs have said a small portion of their customers, such as some online gamers, clog up the internet by using the majority of its bandwidth, which slows down everyone else's connections. (Nigel Treblin/AFP/Getty Images) The pricing model previously proposed by Bell for its wholesale customers caused outrage among small ISPs, internet advocates and internet users earlier this year. Critics argued that the pricing model -- based on usage-based caps and extra charges for each gigabyte over the cap -- would effectively force independent ISPs to provide packages identical to Bell's retail packages, making it impossible for them to differentiate themselves and driving them out of business.

On Friday, Michael Geist, the Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, posted on his blog that the response from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to customer complaints about ISPs slowing down or blocking their internet access has been "superficial."

Geist said his findings show nearly all the large telecommunications providers have been targeted with internet openness -- or net neutrality -- complaints, by users accusing them of unfairly speeding up, slowing down, or blocking online content or applications.

"The CRTC has frequently dismissed complaints as being outside of the scope of the policy, lacking in evidence, or sided with internet provider practices," wrote Geist.

The CRTC's rules on throttling internet access, introduced in 2009, say that big telecommunications companies such as Bell and Rogers can only interfere with internet traffic as a last resort.

The CRTC replied to Geist's column saying it has limited powers to enforce its rules. CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein has said that leveling fines, what the commission calls administration monetary penalties (AMPs), on companies would be effective.  

Does the CRTC need more powers to regulate the internet? Would fines make internet service providers follow the rules? Let us know what you think.



(This survey is not scientific. It is based on readers' responses.)