Petition calling on Canadian gov't to scrap CRTC [Updated]

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the country's governing body for Internet-related matters, has been taking a lot of flak from the public in recent years for not having customers best interests in mind, despite what then industry minister Maxime Bernier had to say in 2006 about a new "light regulatory touch":

"Canada's new government has again furthered its ambitious policy agenda for the telecommunications sector by issuing the policy direction to the CRTC. Our plan will increase competition in the marketplace, which ultimately will have a positive effect on the consumer who will benefit from greater choices and improved products and services."

The customers it seems have had enough, with one Ottawa software employee, Mike Lerner, starting a petition to outright dissolve the organization; Lerner began his march after being frustrated by Bell's recent decision to implement usage-based billing (the more you download, the more you pay) on wholesale customers, like his company.

Other reasons for the public outlash include impositions on independent ISPs like the highly-rated TekSavvy and also Acanac; these providers rent parts of Bell's network in order to supply their own services, and as a result are now being forced to charge customers based on how much data they download per month. The changes are expected to roll out within three months, and once they do, they'll be virtually identical to Bells, 50GB limit and all, according to the independents -- a bearish approach, and one directly aimed at endangering fair competition.

According to Scott Oosterom, an east coast-based customer and teacher, who encountered the recent 1.5 percent rate hike on his Bell satellite programming and promptly complained, Bell blame the CRTC, and the CRTC blames Bell.

Amusingly, Virgin Media, who just launched a very attractive customer-minded set of Internet rates, and are set to put out a DRM-free subscription-based digital music service, are owned by Bell.

Since the CRTC is apparently on Bell's side, Lerner writes in his petition it has "become a burden on the Canadian public and are failing to perform their duties in the interest of the Canadian public and that of a fair and unbiased telecom policy." His belief is the government needs to instate a new body which is on the level with new technology and the competition models the Internet has brought with it.

Lerner's aim is to acquire 10,000 signatures, then present them to Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore; as of the time of writing, 2,638 is the count, up from just a few hundred yesterday. An anti-CRTC rally on Parliament Hill is also planned. The petition can be signed below.

Update: Michael Hennessy, senior vice-president of regulatory and government affairs for another popular Canadian ISP, Telus, has written a rather frank blog post on the issue, stating the opposition is irrational, and this kind of regulation is standard in industry.  His stance shouldn't be taken lightly either, as he notes: "I measure my effectiveness from various cuts and bruises received from regulators. That's why on bad days I yell like some corporate anarchist about blowing up the CRTC, Industry Canada or whatever government body has upset me." He does feel a better system is indeed desirable, but this petition and its propositions are simply not the best way to achieve it.