What to do, eh CRTC?

It's enough to make you into a conspiracy theorist.

The CRTC, a bloated and redundant government department created to make jobs in Quebec and to rubber stamp anything media and telecom companies want, has just green lit usage based internet pricing.

Staffed by former Bell, Rogers, Telus and other media employees, the CRTC has for years worked tirelessly to do everything in their power to keep prices high and consumer pockets empty. They continue in this vein today, despite the fact that telecommunications complaints with cell phone companies, who already charge usage based fees, are amongst the most hated, and receive the most complaints of ANY OTHER BUSINESS ORGANIZATION IN CANADA, have actually seen complaints RISE. How? How can they be rising? They're already the worst and most hated companies in Canada! But nevermind that.

So the CRTC allows media companies to join together, buy up the competition, drive up prices, divy things up between themselves, and return us to the glory days of the 60's and 70's when we could be charged up the ass for the privilege of communicating with each other while they frolic and bathe in goats blood or whatever the hell they do with all that money pouring in. They're certainly not pouring it back into infrastructure.

Now Shaw Cable admits they plan to introduce overage fees if you go over your download limit. Now sure, Shaws limits are decent and I never hit them, but I am opposed to the CONCEPT of being charged for going over a limit. It is WHY I don't currently have a telephone data plan. Will I use over 500mb with a cell phone? Probably not, but I am never going to risk that scenario occuring.

The conspiracy theories come in when you start to wonder if this is all act one in response to ACTA, the secret anti counterfeiting strategy cooked up by the very same busybodies. The one that proposes a three strikes you're off the internet forever law. One that requires no actual proof, one that is being pushed by the current Obama government in the United States. Is this all an attempt to undermine the internet? To destroy the ability of small ISP's to exist? to price the internet out of the hands of those who would use it? I mean, it doesn't REALLY cost anything more to download more. It's all just bits. And if it does cost more, its nowhere close to what they're proposing to charge and they know it.

So if you can't wait for a tiered walled garden internet, where you're free to do whatever you want so long as you stay under your "cap" and so long as you only enjoy Canadian ISP's using officially licensed american entertainment you can stream with a $20 convenience surcharge, continue to vote Liberal or Conservative federally. By all means. I'm voting for the Pirate Party. All other issues remaining equal, I'm getting fed up with this garbage being pushed by government departments that should be working in OUR interests.