Dear AOIR-listers, I want to bring your attention to an event that just took place in Ottawa, Canada, on October 19-21, 2006, the Alternative Telecommunications Policy Forum. The Forum brought together policy experts, academics, and representatives from over a dozen community and public interest organizations across Canada to discuss the implications of telecommunications policy reforms currently being considered by our federal government. On the recommendation of the 2005 Telecommunications Policy Review Panel, the federal government has directed the main telecommunications regulator in Canada (CRTC) to implement the Telecommunications Act in a manner that "maximizes market forces," and is considering abandoning legislative provisions that, among other things, protect consumers and support broadband deployment in rural and remote communities. Topics discussed at the forum included: community broadband and wireless networks; the risks of relying on market forces to promote network access and expansion; the reform of Canada's telecommunications regulatory system; designing government policies and programs to promote effective use of ICTs; and emerging threats to network neutrality. Featured Canadian speakers included: the Honourable Sheila Copps (former Minister of Canadian Heritage); Andrew Clement (University of Toronto); Pippa Lawson (Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic); Garth Graham (Telecommunities Canada) and Marc Raboy (McGill University). Other guest speakers included Sascha Meinrath (Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network) and Ben Scott (FreePress). The Forum was organized by Marita Moll (Telecommunities Canada) Leslie Shade (Concordia University) and, in a supporting role, myself. For anyone interested in learning more, detailed information about the Forum can be found at www.cracin.ca Information about the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel and its Final Report can be found at: www.telecomreview.ca Contents of the post-Forum news release are also pasted below. ************************************************************* Alternative Telecommunications Policy Forum News Release Oct 26, 2006 Proposed Telecom Policy Places Too Much Faith in Market Forces, Citizens¹ Forum Warns "We were looking at telecommunications policy through a social and community economic development lens rather than an industry lens,² according to Marita Moll and Leslie Shade, organizers of the Alternative Telecommunications Policy Forum held in Ottawa, October 19-21. The Forum brought together policy experts, academics, and representatives from over a dozen community and public interest organizations across Canada to discuss the implications of telecommunications policy reforms currently being considered by Industry Minister, Hon. Maxime Bernier. The proposed reforms, which include weakening consumer protection guarantees and eliminating regulations aimed at protecting Canada¹s cultural sovereignty in favour of maximizing market forces, were recommended last spring by the Liberal-appointed Telecommunications Policy Review Panel (TPRP). Participants in the Forum generally agreed that the TPRP Report places far too much faith in ³market forces² in an era when access to advanced telecommunications services has become essential to economic, social, and political participation. ³Canadian citizens, consumers, and communities will be poorly served if the Minister implements the Panel¹s recommendations without more public input,² insisted Dr. Michael Gurstein of CRACIN and Executive Director of the Centre for Community Informatics Research, Training and Development. "Relying exclusively on 'market forces' to guide telecommunications is a dangerous myth, and not well supported by the evidence available," noted Andrew Clement, Professor of Information Studies at the University of Toronto. "Direct government action is an imperative both to the provision of broadband services wherever Canadians live and to providing the means and the knowledge for Canadians to use those services effectively" said David Murdoch, Halifax Regional Community Access Program (CAP) Association Coordinator. ³Canada would do well to learn from the mistakes already made south of the border in the U.S., where we embraced aggressive deregulation sooner,² suggested Ben Scott, Policy Director for Free Press, a Washington, D.C. media policy think-tank. Scott went on to point out that, since 2001, the U.S. has fallen from 4th to 12th in OECD rankings for broadband penetration. The Forum also affirmed that telecommunications performs an essential role in the maintenance of Canadian sovereignty and identity and that this principle should be retained in any new version of the Telecommunications Act. The Industry Minister is also considering an overhaul of Section 7 of the Telecommunications Act, which articulates the objectives of telecom policy in Canada. "The proposed rewrite of section 7 of the Telecommunications Act would eliminate important policy goals such as reliable, high quality service and the protection of consumers from telecom-specific marketplace abuses. It would also remove key provisions including the requirement for just and reasonable rates and the rule against unjust discrimination. Without these goals and basic ground rules, we can expect lowest common denominator approaches to telecommunications service in Canada and widespread marketplace abuses. More than ever before, we need such principles in order to ensure that telecommunications in Canada continues to serve the public good as well as the private shareholders of dominant players," said Philippa Lawson of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) Also considered at this meeting was the National ICT Strategy proposed in the TPRP Report. ³Such a strategy is important, but we would like to see a great deal more weight given to community input than has been proposed so far,² said Peter Frampton, of the Learning Enrichment Foundation, a social agency that offers programs and services to low income areas in the Greater Toronto Area. The group felt broadband access was key to economic and social development and therefore should be treated as an essential service. However, on the TPRP¹s proposed strategy to deliver broadband to remote and rural areas, known as U-CAN, the message was that the major benefactors of this subsidy would be the largest telephone companies rather than communities. ³The outlined financial obligations are simply too onerous for any other group to play² said Garth Graham of Telecommunities Canada, a group that supports Canadian community networks. "That leaves communities unable to pursue their own ideas and choices about connection and development." The Alternative Telecommunications Policy Forum was convened by the Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN), a SSHRC-funded research partnership established in 2003 to investigate the status and achievements of community-based information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives in Canada, and was financially supported by a SSHRC INE public outreach grant. More information about this Forum can be found at www.cracin.ca For further information please contact: Diane Dechief, CRACIN Administrator Tel: 416-978-4662 E-mail: cracin@fis.utoronto.ca -- Graham Longford, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN) Co-investigator, Community Wireless Infrastructure Research Project (CWIRP) Faculty of Information Studies University of Toronto 140 St. George St., Rm 310 Toronto, Ontario CANADA M5S 3G6 email: graham.longford@utoronto.ca +1 416-978-4662