Canadians who don't like the idea of Internet access being restricted in any way, lost a key decision Wednesday.
The CRTC has ruled the practice by Bell Canada called "traffic shaping " or "throttling" can continue. The federal regulator said Wednesday that the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP) - which rents space from Bell and other major firms -- failed to show that limits on using Internet capacity have caused any business loss to them or their clients.
Tom Copeland head of CAIP said he was "disappointed that the CRTC looked only at the business arguments and did not consider the public good in this issue."
The CRTC will issue the second part of its decision Thursday and Copeland says he hopes the regulator will indicate how it will deal with other issues and perhaps set out a timetable for detailed public hearings.
The head of the CRTC has indicated in the past that the agency wants to look at what is called "net neutrality." Supporters say no limits should be put on Internet usage.
Companies like Bell and Rogers, though, say if limits are not placed on a small minority of heavy Internet users who often swap movie and music files, all Internet users could be affected.
Bell spokesperson Mirko Bibic said the telecom's actions are appropriate in the face of exploding Internet usage.
"What we're doing is slowing down but not blocking peer-to-peer traffic during peak periods because it's used by a relatively small minority and consumes a disproportionate amount of bandwidth -- and downloading is not as time-sensitive as web traffic."
Bibic said five per cent of users consume more than 50 per cent of the network's capacity, and 60 per cent of their usage involves peer-to-peer traffic. Next month, Rogers will introduce a new fee plan for internet use - the more you use, the more you will pay.
Meanwhile, the federal privacy commissioner is launching an investigation into whether or not Bell and Rogers are breaking the law by monitoring what users do on the Internet and deciding whether on not to cut back that access.
The investigation was sparked by a complaint from the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. Phillippa Lawson, the executive director, says it's time the privacy commissioner looked at what is being done.
The companies, however, say they don't use the technology to invade people's privacy.
Internet neutrality supporters are planning a rally to draw attention to the issue May 27 on Parliament Hill.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Paul Brent and files from The Canadian Press
