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CRTC sets net neutrality rules for Canada, allows throttling as 'last resort'
The FCC may be yet to act on Chairman Genachowski's proposed net neutrality rules, but the agency's Canadian counterpart, the CRTC, has made a fairly significant ruling of its own on the matter today, and it seems like it may have manged to disappoint folks on both sides of the debate in the process. The short of it is that the CRTC will allow internet service providers to practice "traffic shaping" (a.k.a. bandwidth throttling), but only as a "last resort," and only after it has issued a warning that the throttling will take place (30 days in advance for regular users, and 60 days for wholesale customers). What's more, the CRTC is also recommending that ISPs "give preference to Internet traffic management practices based on economic measures" before cutting into customers downloads -- in other words, charge more for extra bandwidth, or offer discounts during non-peak hours.
Read - CRTC ruling
Read - The Globe and Mail, "CRTC sets Web 'throttling' rules"
