January 11, 2011

Canadians To Get (Digitally) Screwed Again

By admin

Internet access for all Canadians is about to get more expensive (again), as Bell, Rogers and the rest of the media jackals stand poised to hike usage fees for Canadian browsers.

More related to this story can be found here.

Don’t forget, though, that this isn’t just about making stupid amounts of money at the expense of all Canadians, business and other organizations that come here for digital services.

This is about controlling THE MESSAGE.

The message is that we’re not allowed to stray too far from the media octopus that strangles all Canadian communications, including the Internet, wireless & cell phone communications, print media, radio and other forms of communication in this country.

It’s about being in our faces all the time with their massaged message about how Canadians don’t want an election or how we ALL seemed to elect the most corrupt government in Canadian history or how it’s OK to support countries like Israel despite the genocide that they commit against Palestine or how we don’t need information from the long-form census or how it’s OK to double or triple the cost for a bunch of useless paper airplanes.

It’s about control of mindshare as well as our wallets.

A small change in the ability to control that conversation came recently from a little company in the US called Netflix.  How dare Canadians use something that might actually cost less and offer up more variety?  Don’t worry … we’ll charge them for it!

You can still post your feedback concerning these decisions by joining organizations like OpenMedia and sponsoring them with donations or volunteer work.  You can also submit your name to the CRTC, but unless your last name is ‘Rogers’, you will likely be ignored.

Another thing you can do is to pull the plug.  Cancel your cable or satellite subscription.  Find an ISP other than Bell or Rogers (an impossibility, I know, given that they still own the infrastructure) including companies like TekSavvy or Acanac.

The Best Option: Real Competition

Finally, the best thing to do is to support real infrastructure alternatives to Bell and Rogers.  Contact your local MP, MPP or city councilor and ask them to investigate the installation of Broadband over Power Lines, or BPL.

While there are issues and some potential inefficiencies from this kind of service, the full-fledged public pursuit of a genuine alternative to Bell and Rogers will open up endless possibilities for Canadians and the businesses that they own and operate.