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Net Neutrality and Coronation Street

// May 28th, 2008 // Internet

Net neutrality is the hot button internet topic in Canada lately with Bell throttling ISPs they sell bandwidth to, said ISPs appealing to CRTC, citizen rallies on parliament hill and now the promise from the NDP party that they will introduce a bill that would ensure a neutral network without ISP level hindrance.

If what I’ve just said is greek to you, you’re not alone. Outside of internet professionals, many people are not sure what net neutrality is, let alone why they need be concerned about it.

The issue is one that effects all internet users, but there’s little mainstream coverage on it. That’s what I want to talk about today… not what net neutrality is (other people have already explained it well) but rather how do we get the moderate or occasional internet user to know about it.

Sometimes education comes in ways we don’t expect…

Last week at Mesh, I was chatting with a colleague about how CBC now has episodes of Coronation Street online. We both talked about how our moms loved the show and who’s mom was a bigger fan (mine won). Then he talked about how that show made him mom come to learn about net neutrality.

How’s that?

Well, him mom was having problems streaming the show and he suggested to her that maybe her ISP had throttled video traffic. She didn’t know what he meant, so he went on to explain to her what throttling meant and also the move toward net neutrality legislation. She got it. All she wanted to do was stream her show and the ISP she felt she was paying to access this content turned out was (possibly) restricting access to it. A moderate internet user in her 70s became a net neutrality advocate.

Sometimes I feel that when heavy internet users like myself are tackling issues facing this medium, we (or I) find ourselves preaching to the choir. We need to find ways to bring the message to people who don’t read Ars Technica, but watch the 6 o’clock evening news. Sometimes, learning about an issue comes from something seemingly unrelated, like a 48 year old soap opera.

What are some other ways we can talk about this (and other) issues to the equally important but less heavy internet users?  Net neutrality aside, how can we bridge this communication gap?