A Win For All Of Us

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A Win For All Of Us

Postby Marsbar » Thu Apr 20, 2017 7:09 pm

Your internet provider can't pick which apps and services count against your data cap, says CRTC.

Internet service providers in Canada should not be able to exempt certain types of content, such as streaming music or video, from counting toward a person's data cap, according to a new ruling by the country's telecommunications regulator.

The move is a win for proponents of a principle known as net neutrality, under which carriers treat all content equally and do not privilege content that benefits them.

"Rather than offering its subscribers selected content at different data usage prices, Internet service providers should be offering more data at lower prices," said Jean-Pierre Blais, chairman of the CRTC in a statement. "That way, subscribers can choose for themselves what content they want to consume."

The decision stems from a 2015 complaint against the wireless carrier Videotron, which primarily operates in Quebec. Videotron launched a feature in August of that year, enabling customers to stream music from services such as Spotify and Google Play Music without it counting against a monthly data cap as a way to entice people to subscribe to Videotron's internet service.

Broadly speaking, this differential pricing practice, known as zero-rating allows internet providers to charge different prices depending on the type of app or service a person uses.

Sponsored data is another approach, in which a company — say, Netflix — could pay your internet provider to exempt their product or service from counting toward your data cap.

Proponents of differential pricing — which include Bell, Telus, Videotron and Facebook, which relies on zero-rating to offer its social network for free around the world — argued that the practice was good for innovation and would mean more choice and lower costs for consumers.

But consumer advocacy groups, and even internet provider Rogers, disagreed, arguing the practice would inherently favour some types of internet activity and discriminate against others, in violation of net neutrality. The CRTC agreed.

The decision means that Videotron cannot offer its unlimited music streaming plan to subscribers in its current form — nor can other internet providers offer similar plans that zero-rate other types of internet content, such as video streaming or social media.
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