Fwd: Thank you for taking action to stop the meter!

[Tracey P. Lauriault]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: OpenMedia.ca <[hidden email]>
Date: Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 2:10 PM
Subject: Thank you for taking action to stop the meter!
To: [hidden email]


Thank you for signing the petition! Your name has been added.

The more people that join this campaign, the more powerful our call
will be. Please help spread the word -- tweet or email the following
link, and share it on Facebook. Tell your family, friends, co-workers,
and random acquaintances to join the force against usage-based billing
and a metered Internet:

URL to email: http://stopthemeter.ca
Share on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/hZf9YW
Tweet with Twitter: http://bit.ly/gdOBtF

Make a donation to help us stop the meter at
http://openmedia.ca/drive. (Donating to us will be less expensive than
paying punitive fees.)

- The OpenMedia.ca Team

---------------

The CRTC just decided to let your Internet Service Provider put a
meter on your Internet!

Bell Canada and other big telecom companies can now freely impose
usage-based billing on independent Internet Service Providers (indie
ISPs) and YOU. Big Telecom companies are obviously trying to gouge
consumers, control the Internet market, and ensure that consumers
continue to subscribe to their television services.

This means we're looking at a future where ISPs will charge per byte,
the way they do with smart phones. If we allow this to happen
Canadians will have no choice but to pay more for less Internet.

This will crush innovative services, Canada's digital competitiveness,
and your wallet.

We need to stand up for the Internet.

Sign the Stop The Meter petition at: http://StopTheMeter.ca

Want to know more? Here’s the lowdown:

This decision is a blow to consumer choice, to access, and to free
expression. Independent Internet service providers (ISPs), such as
TekSavvy, pay incumbent telecoms like Bell for access points in their
networks. In applying usage-based billing (UBB) to these indie ISPs,
the CRTC has allowed Bell to determine and limit how many gigabytes of
usage their independent competitors can provide to their customers.

- This severely limits competition in the telecommunications market,
which is bad for innovation and diversity of content.

- This also means that the cost will necessarily be passed down to
you, the consumer.

- Usage-based billing, or metering discriminates against certain forms
of information insofar as it charges consumers more for content that
requires the use of a large amount of gigabytes, such as audio and
video.

- This also means that those who produce media-based art, and depend
on the Internet to show the world their work, are less able to produce
and disseminate their content freely. This means less innovation and
more control of art, film, music, and other forms we may not yet know
of!

Sign the petition and save the freest medium we have ever known
(again!). Stop the Meter and save our net!

--

Read more at SaveOurNet.ca:
http://saveournet.ca/content/what-does-usage-based-billing-mean-net-neutrality

Read more at OpenMedia.ca:
http://openmedia.ca/blog/crtc-decision-all-bell-and-usage-based-billing-all

Read TV Versus The Internet by Steve Anderson:
http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2010/10/06/TVversusInternet/

Read more at CBC.ca:
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/10/28/crtc-usage-based-billing-internet.html


--
Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805
http://traceyplauriault.ca/