Canadian free internet access under threat

http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/2972/280/

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) this week said it has launched a proceeding in hopes of gaining a better understanding of broadcasting in a world increasingly being dominated by the internet.

The government agency says the proceeding will include a public hearing starting on February 17, 2009, in Gatineau, Que where the federal government is inviting comments on "the significance of broadcasting in new media and its impact on the traditional broadcasting system"

In simple terms, the agency is trying to establish a role for itself in the regulation of what Canadians can and should be able to see over the internet similar to the way the commission regulates what Canadians can see over Canadian radio and television.

The result of these hearings could result in in the overturning of a 1999 decision that exempted from regulation broadcasters that distribute their video content over the Internet. The hearings will also examine a 2007 decision that took a hands off approach to broadcasters and wireless companies who were sending video through cellphones and other mobile devices.

In a written statement federal bureaucrats said the review was required now because Canadians are now spending more time watching video over the internet and mobile devices. The Commission, therefore, wishes to consult on the "the appropriateness of the Commission's exemption orders for new media and mobile broadcasting services."

We are in danger of losing unfiltered access to the Internet! We have to do something to stop this!

So Much For "Don't Be Evil"

Google has announced that Patrick Pichette, one of many pricks at the helm of the many-headed hydra that is the Giant Canadian Telecom company, Bell Canada, will be their new Chief Financial Officer.

Pichette worked with Bell alongside the mealy-mouthed Grand Weasel, Michael Sabia during a time that Bell introduced a bogus "Network Access" surcharge of $4.25 on every Bell Canada telephone account, by sneaking it past their customer base. Tally some thirteen million-plus subscribers, and that's an extra $55.25 million a month--at least--that Pichette generated with the "Network Access" sneak-attack.

He was also there when Bell Canada laid off thousands of jobs so Sabia could take a 555% pay rise, after negotiating a crooked deal with the CTEA union that narrowly averted a strike, in 2006.

Pichette was also there when Bell Canada's internet division, Sympatico, began the process of "throttling" the Internet, namely imposing bandwidth caps on supposedly "unlimited" internet access during peak times, in order to help stamp out P2P file sharing. The ploy didn't work, as P2P sharing is going to continue for a long, long time to come. What it did do was the one thing Bell Canada has proven universally good at: pissing off its customers.

Pichette's appointment comes after Google spent nearly a year looking for a new CFO. Frankly, they should have kept looking.

Bell Canada's business practice is simple: they impose whatever their board of directors decides to, on their customers, usually with tacit approval of the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission. The $4,25 surcharge and the bandwidth throttling are only the two most flagrant examples of the sort of petty evil that comes out of Bell Canada. Employee harassment is rampant in the organization, as is unfair sales practices, poor customer service, terrible tech support on all levels but most especially with Bell Mobility and Bell Sympatico.

If Pichette is the kind of person Google is looking for in its organization, well, I'm sad to say that the company is continuing the long slide into evil that began when it started helping China police the Internet.

Pichette is a good company man. That means he's lied, manipulated, kissed ass and generally fucked people over to get where he is. From there, he like most of the unimpressive stable of mediocre caretaker executives that have polluted Bell Canada Enterprises for the last couple of decades, continued to perpetuate the cycle of gorging company profits at the expense of customer service, customer experience and employee morale.

I'm already shopping around for a new search engine, in light of Google's questionable decision to hire this Pissant Pichette. Bell Canada lost over 511 000 subscribers last year. While pundits will give you a dozen reasons why these people left Bell and then make the claim that "many" will be back, the fact is the CRTC-imposed telephone regulation only ended last year, effectively breaking Bell Canada's quasi-monopoly on telephone and telecommunications in Quebec, Ontario and points west. People left because they could, because they had long wanted to. Bell Canada has always shown a callous, arrogant and cavalier attitude towards their customers. The fact that so many were so eager to switch away from them only demonstrates how poor their service is.

If this is the kind of business Google wants to be in, I want no part of it. I may even consider migrating this weblog away from Blogger, if this shit continues.