CRTC sets Canadian "net neutrality" framework
Canada's federal telecommunications regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), has recently released a regulatory policy decision clarifying its legislative authority within Canada's Telecommunications Act to police discriminatory internet traffic management practices by ISPs and its position in favour of net neutrality. In addition, this decision also enhances the protection of personal information collected by ISPs by seeking to “impose a higher standard than that available under PIPEDA in order to provide a higher degree of privacy protection for customers of telecommunications services.”
In this decision, the CRTC sets out some ground rules to the internet traffic management practices (ITMPs) of internet service providers (ISPs) and attempts to balance the freedom of Canadians to use the Internet for various purposes with the legitimate interests of ISPs to manage the traffic thus generated on their networks, consistent with legislation, including privacy legislation. While the CRTC has deemed it inappropriate to create bright-line rules as to which types of ITMPs are acceptable, it has set out certain ground rules that:
- mandate ISPs to disclose their ITMPs to retail customers, including: (i) why they are being introduced; (ii) who is affected; (iii) when it will occur; (iv) what type of Internet traffic is subject to the traffic management; and (v) how it will affect an Internet user's experience, including its specific impact on speed;
- require prior regulatory approval for ITMPs applied by ISPs to their wholesale services that are more restrictive than those they apply to their own retail Internet services;
- require prior notice, followed by a waiting period, before implementing or making changes to ITMPs;
- prohibit the blocking of access to content unless prior approval is obtained from the CRTC;
- prohibit the use of ITMPs resulting in noticeable degradation of time-sensitive Internet traffic unless prior approval is obtained from the CRTC;
- provide a venue to challenge ITMPs that are unnecessary or disproportional; and
- protect consumer privacy interest by directing ISPs, as a condition of providing retail Internet services, not to use personal information collected for the purpose of traffic management for other purposes and not to disclose such information.
Additionally, the CRTC expects mobile wireless internet services to abide by the principles set out in this decision.
