5 Comments

1. Anarchist Philanthropist says:

   April 11, 2011 at 11:18 am

   Simple question
   Can you ask them why any of them have to get involved in the internet at all. Why not just let it evolve on it’s own??!
2. Brian says:

   April 11, 2011 at 1:48 pm

   Re: Simple question
   Because in order for something (like the Internet — services in Canada) to evolve healthily there needs to be a fair balance of forces that help it evolve. One typical example of forces that help something evolve are supply, demand, competition and regulation.

   In case of Internet (services in Canada) to evolve healthily there needs to be supply and demand. There needs to be enough supply to keep up with demand. Important also however is competition. For a healthy evolution, the supply needs to come from more than one party, hopefully all with their own goals of supplying as much of the market as possible.

   The problem in Canada is that that competition force is not present and when that happens, regulation is needed as a replacement to product the consumers of the service.

   I, as do you, so sorely wish it were not so and that there was a healthy environment for Internet to evolve here in Canada. I hate regulation and I hate the government running businesses.

   But the problem is that the government has already tainted tele-communications in Canada by regulating it for the past 100 (ok, maybe not quite 100) years. That taining is going to require the service to continue to be regulated until market forces come back into balance (something I personally don’t hold my breath for happening, soon, or ever).
3. Crockett says:

   April 11, 2011 at 3:07 pm

   Live chat just closed …
   The live chat was great, I applaud Marc for taking the time and effort to talk with real people on these important issues. Alas, the time of one hour was too short, I hope time will be made to have another discussion.

   I had some questions that were posted but not answered in time one that did not make the ticker. If Marc does come by this forum here they are again:

   1) What is the “private copying compensation fund”? How will it be funded, who will pay and who will be the recipients?

   2) Will the expansion of broadband to all Canadians take into account consumer costs and bandwidth allowances? For instance will a cellular ‘stick’ be consider good enough or will wired connections be the priority?

   Otherwise, a great conversation with mostly positive responses from Marc on access and transparency issues. Thanks again!
4. Napalm says:

   April 11, 2011 at 3:56 pm

   …
   @Crockett: “1) What is the “private copying compensation fund”?”

   I guess it’s the iPod levy.

   Nap. 🙂
5. OfficerSully says:

   February 16, 2012 at 11:47 pm

   Is it illegal to download music off of a torrent?
   Im finding it very hard to find some easy to understand info.

   As of right now is it illegal to download music in a p2p sort of way? my understanding is that it is illegal to upload but legal to share.

   If it is illegal it pretty much answers this question. Is it legal to leech torrents?

   thanks in advance, they dont really teach this stuff in the academy haha