CIRA to host national event on the future of the Internet | Canadian Internet Forum

CIRA to host national event on the future of the Internet | Canadian Internet Forum

Some interesting discussions here.

Personally I'm interested to hear what they have to say about access, and distribution of information services. I attended one of the sessions that this one is summarizing, in my capacity as Provincial Director for the SLA -WCC, but also expressed my concerns at the time regarding the geographical distribution of internet access. The discussion at the time back in November ended on a fairly optimistic note, that all we needed to do is hound the politicians to do the right thing. But I'm not sure that in that small an informal gathering we were able to agree what the right thing might be.

As it turns out a lot of thought and imagination needs to be expended, and in very limited time. Already since we met a few months ago, a recent CRTC decision has come down that may have significant impact on this country's internet access; that decision has placed caps on unlimited internet access previously promised by some service providers.
This decision not only limits the ability of smaller service providers to compete, but more importantly it places limits on the access to information for people who are already at a lower socio-economic status, and cannot afford to pay the rates offered by the larger service providers, many of whom don't serve the remote communities, citing the rules of market forces (rather than social responsibility) as the driving force behind irresponsible decisions. These are harsh criticism to be sure, and unsubstantiated, so I throw these out to the wider community to engage in discussion.

What is at stake is an uneven distribution of information in a society that ostensibly values education as a basic human right.

Watch this space for further thoughts as they develop.