Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau states President Donald Trump's strategy to roll back internet neutrality protections for the net "does not make sense" and that he will be doing his best on what he can do to make sure there is net neutrality for the whole internet. "I am very worried about the attacks on net neutrality," Trudeau said in Toronto on Wednesday, in response to a question from Motherboard about Trump's plans. "Internet neutrality is something that is vital for small businesses, for consumers, and it is vital to maintain the freedom linked to the internet alive." Motherboard asked specifically what Trudeau planned to perform to the plan put forward on Tuesday by the Federal Communications Commission, which could pave the way for internet service and superior access to internet consumers. "We will need to continue to shield net neutrality," Trudeau added. "And I will." Beneath the FCC's strategy, which would roll back neutrality rules which were implemented from the previous two administrations, services would have new liberty to charge more for greater internet speeds and may block or slow traffic to certain websites or services. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, hailed the program as a win for the free net, saying in his announcement: "The federal government will stop micromanaging the net." Critics, including a range of media services, say it will do the exact opposite. Trudeau would not comment on if he would convey the message to Trump. "We are just consuming the place that the president has obtained and looking at the impact it is going to have in the United States and in Canada," Trudeau said.
The changes could fundamentally alter the way the internet works, impacting not only overseas, but also in Canada and companies and consumers in the United States. If American internet companies begin charging people access to a fast lane--a faster tier of internet service that would benefit only those services from around the world could have to pay in order to access the valuable American market. The changes could also embolden the telecommunications giants to charge other companies to ensure access. This might be ruinous for services that can't afford to pay. Net neutrality is the regulation of the land in Canada, as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission--which is responsible for regulating the nation's telecommunications companies, and it is essentially an equivalent to the FCC--has worked to strengthen its neutrality policies in recent decades, taking aim at companies that attempt to use differential and discriminatory pricing or solutions to benefit their particular business operations. Earlier this year, the Canada ruled against telephone giant Videotron following its boundless music streaming program gave preferential access to certain streaming companies. "A free and open Web provides everybody a fair chance to innovate and to get a huge collection of content to be discovered by customers," then-chairman Jean-Pierre Blais stated in the moment.
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February 2019
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