Canadian Stakeholder Voices on Net Neutrality: Moving the Debate Forward

 

Alexander Ly, a Master of Electronic Commerce Student, defended his research project on 6 April 2011.

Supervised by Dr. Bertrum MacDonald and Prof. Sandra Toze, Alex’s research included a review of the literature on net neutrality and interviews with four key informants in this current hot debate: Lee Bragg (CEO of Eastlink, Halifax), Victor Wollesen (Per Vices Corporation, Toronto), Michael Geist (University of Ottawa), and Stephan Meyer (Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, Ottawa).

Net neutrality has been the subject of fierce debate in Canada and the United States (U.S.) for many years. The principle of net neutrality itself has an unclear definition and whether the Internet is neutral or not has serious implications for Internet service providers (ISPs), businesses operating online, government, and civil society. With these stakeholders and varying interests at play, the debate about the issue has been ongoing with an uncertain end point. This presentation looks at advancing the discussion about net neutrality by asking the question how can the interests of ISPs, businesses, government, and civil society be balanced. The research relies on a review of the literature on net neutrality and analysis of interviews with four individuals representing the four major stakeholder groups. By reviewing similarities and differences between positions, it has been found that the divide amongst stakeholder groups is not as wide as may typically be perceived. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that the issue of net neutrality can be addressed in a step-by-step and practical manner. A framework for Internet regulation is proposed with recommendations on how to move the debate forward.