''An Act to amend the Telecommunications Act'' (Internet neutrality) (Bill C-398) was tabled in the

Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the ...

by the MP for Timmins and James Bay,

Charlie Angus Charles Joseph Angus (born November 14, 1962) is a Canadian author, journalist, broadcaster, musician and politician. A member of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Angus has been the federal Member of Parliament for the riding of Timmins—Jame ...

, on May 29, 2009, on the second session of the 40th Parliament. Bill C-398 aimed to prohibit various forms of discrimination by

telecommunications service providers A telephone company, also known as a telco, telephone service provider, or telecommunications operator, is a kind of communications service provider (CSP), more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunicat ...

. "Network management practices that favour, degrade or prioritize any content, application or service transmitted over a broadband network based on its source, ownership, destination or type" are specifically prohibited, subject to certain exceptions. Telecommunications Service providers may use reasonable management practices in order to alleviate extraordinary congestion, may prioritize emergency communications, and assure the security of computers and networks in a reasonable manner. ISPs, according to the proposed Bill, would also be allowed to charge users on a usage-based basis as well as offer directly to users consumer protection services that may discriminate, provided notice is given to users as well as a possibility to

opt-out The term opt-out refers to several methods by which individuals can avoid receiving unsolicited product or service information. This option is usually associated with direct marketing campaigns such as e-mail marketing or direct mail. A list of thos ...

. The Bill would also prohibit telecommunications service providers to hamper foreign device attachment to their networks provided the device would neither damage nor degrade the network. Telecommunications service providers would furthermore be obligated to render available to users at all time information about the speed, limitations and management practices that are in effect.

History

The Bill is a re-submitted version of Bill C-552 which was introduced one day after 300 protesters came to Parliament in May 2008. The

Net Neutrality Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of co ...

movement in Canada had accelerated since telecom providers Bell Canada and Rogers were found to have throttled their users

P2P P2P may refer to: * Pay to play, where money is exchanged for services * Peer-to-peer, a distributed application architecture in computing or networking ** List of P2P protocols * Phenylacetone, an organic compound commonly known as P2P * Poin ...

traffic. Liberal MP

David McGuinty David Joseph McGuinty (born February 25, 1960) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Ottawa South since 2004. He currently chairs the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians ...

had followed closely on the heels of Mr. Angus' first private member initiative with a private Bill of his own, C-555.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Act to amend the Telecommunications Act (Internet neutrality) Internet in Canada Net neutrality Canadian federal legislation Proposed laws of Canada 2009 in Canadian law