InformationAddiction.com
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On most topics I tend to think that Canada is more progressive than the US. However there are some areas where Canada lags sorely behind… one of those topics is open access to information. A recent comparison between the US and Canada found that Canada is significantly behind the US when it comes to free public access to information.

• The CRTC finally rules on Network Neutrality. Some guidelines but lots of loopholes. Here’s a summary of the situation. Pretty disappointing really.
• The British Columbian government backs net neutrality (not that it really matters unless Canada backs more strongly)
• A Canadian wireless advertising agency says that wireless network providers are blocking its ads and is calling for wireless network neutrality.
• US military spending vs. The rest of the world in 2008.
• A study by the Journal of Information Law and Technology has found that Bill C-61 Anti-circumvention provisions is most probably unconstitutional. Take that (legally non-binding) ruling DRM!

Probably the biggest news I’ve read in quite some time, the Global Network Initiative is a joint venture between the major network companies to find common ground on dealing with questionable countries like China. A good idea in general but it’ll be interested to see if it can actually contain the greed of these mutlinational corporations as they increasingly deal with China for just about everything. Ars has a good summary of the whole situation.

In related China news, China has extends press freedoms after Olympics. However, the Chinese government is now photographing all internet cafe users.

• The CRTC says it is not endorsing bandwidth throttling by letting Bell continue its bandwidth throttling.Umm ok.
• A BC Court rules that linking to infringing content does not constitute republication which means that I can link to whatever torrents I want from the site and everything is good. (which is great!)

Probably the coolest news in a while in this topic (although unsubstantiated): apparently Google is considering building floating data-warehouses that would reside in international waters. Lots would be built in order to avoid being attacked by pirates (real pirates I mean). Very cool idea. The big question (which is the big question for any kind of Data Haven): Where will the internet connection come from?

• The other big news this week is that Comcast will abandon their Deep Packet Inspection method of restricting their user’s bandwidth. Instead they will do something much more intelligent. Throttling will still be done, but it’ll be done based on overall bandwidth usage per user. So those users that are using more bandwidth will be throttled more independent of what (whether torrents or voip or whatever) is using the bandwidth. Hopefully Canadian ISPs will follow suit since this method is undoubtedly less expensive for the ISP also.
• US ISPs have agreed to ban child porn usenet groups which is a good thing for the kids but a bad thing for freedom of speech. What exactly constitutes child porn…? Meanwhile, Verizon has blocked access to the Usenet as a whole over child porn fears… which is exactly my point. Also the state of California has asked ISPsto ban Usenet also. Clearly the definition of Child Porn also includes the thousands of other groups on Usenet.
• Speaking of Canadian ISPs and bandwidth throttling, the Bell Canada row has turned into a CRTC investigation which will hopefully hand out a ruling on net neutrality.
• Textbooks are ridiculously expensive but a new movement towards free digital textbooks is taking off in California.
• The recent massive take-down of Scientology videos has been basically recidended with the majority of movies being put back on the various video sites.
• Finally, a subject I’m sure we’ll hear a lot more about in the coming weeks: the US electronic voting process is apparently not even closed to being fixed before the upcoming elections meaning that vote fraud is not only possible but also easy to accomplish.

So it came out recently that not only is Bell Canada throttling the speed of their residential customers but they are also throttling their commercial customers, specifically their ISP customers (ie. the people who you thought weren’t Bell but really are). The ISPs themselves are furious because they have been (no doubt) telling their customers that they don’t throttle their bandwidth. The CRTC has recently ruled that Bell Canada can continue to throttle traffic while they think about what they should do. Even more disturbing is that Bell is using Deep Packet Inspection, meaning that they are not just throttling all BitTorrent traffic, they are throttling traffic based on exactly the type of information being transmitted. So how much is this throttling affecting your actual bandwidth? From some studies done be users, depending on the time of day, the impact can be pretty significant… for a service you are paying a lot of money for.

• China blocks 25 video sites and penalizes 32 others for breaking a new law that stipulates: “…a streaming company to obtain a state license and then avoid airing clips that might inspire fear, contain pornography, or endanger national security. That’s a huge burden for sites that feature user-generated content, especially when “endangering national security” includes showing video clips of Chinese unrest”. Yay human rights.
• Speaking of China, Eric sent me this interesting article on bypassing the great firewall of china. As we’ve seen so many times before, information will always find a way to be free.

• Here’s a good idea (and one that should come to Canada), its Congresspedia. Free open-source information about candidates for the US election.
• I love the idea of free, video lectures from the best universities in the world. Although I’ve never found the time to actually watch even a single episode. Anyway, the classically left-wing UC Berkley has put the majority of their undergrad lectures onto YouTube. Awesomeness.
• A recent poll of Canadians find that we strongly support Net Neutrality. Wow, who’d have thought that people would even care! Here is a petition you can sign if you are interesting in supporting this idea in Canada.
• Why should you care about Net Neutrality? Perfect example, Rogers (the Canadian ISP) has recently started testing injecting code/content into web pages on their network. Check out that screenshot! Now thats some scary shit… what evil genius is thinking this crap up!?
• Concern from many different countries about the US control of the internet at the UN summit on the internet. As the US continues to move towards a totalitarian police-state… you’ve got to start to worry about the state of the net.
• Speaking of the US decline, they have recently passed the SAFE Act through the house which includes rules such as “anyone offering an open Wi-Fi connection to the public must report illegal images including “obscene” cartoons and drawings–or face fines of up to $300,000.” Yeah I’m sure thats really going to happen.

If you haven’t read anything about the auction for the 700mhz spectrum, I’d suggest doing a little reading. The 700mhz spectrum is what analog TV is currently broadcast on. The US is currently in the process of auctioning off this spectrum (in good US fashion to the highest bidder). 700mhz is a very important spectrum because it can cut through concrete and brick easily… making it one of the best pieces of spectrum real estate. Google has suggested that this spectrum be open to all and used in an open-source fashion. Others (ie. big Telcos) think want this spectrum so badly you can practically hear it hurting them. Find out what the deal is and why its so important and about Google’s involvement.

• Professional (apparently defined as those that make money) bloggers may soon get journalistic protection if this bill manages to go through.
• Wow, who would have thought it: the possibility for true freedom of speech on the airwaves. Its the real world Pump Up The Volume as the FCC considers offering non-commercial FM licenses.
• Free Speech finally comes back to Canadian airports. You can now make statements or jokes about “bombs” or “hijackers” or “guns” and not go immediately to jail. What a weird piece of good news in an industry that has become just about as fucked up as you can imagine.