The Canadian Radio, Television, and Telecommunications Commission on Thursday said that it will allow major Internet Service Providers (ISP) to throttle or slow down Internet traffic of peer-to-peer file-sharing websites due to the impending threat of overwhelming bandwidth space-eating capacity of such website that causes slow company networks.
However, this “solution” can only be implemented as a last resort for the ISPs in addressing the problem of P2P in the country.
“Technical implementation of the economic management means that ISPs can manage the Internet traffic through bandwidth control while actually traffic shaping, such as intentional slow down of sites, can only be implemented as last resort for the companies,” the CRTC said in its ruling.
Reports told that Telus, BCE, and other ISP firms were advised by the commission to first implement “economic measures” on the problem of illegal file-sharing before resorting to the more drastic step of “throttling”.
The ISPs, according to the commission, can implement on how much bandwidth capacity a user can use in a period of one month depending on the terms of their contract.
Business management through bandwidth usages is the most transparent measure ISPs can implement since its impact will manifest on the actual monthly bill of the consumers.
CRTC has issued the order following long months of talk with ISPs and other Internet shareholders in the Canada.
One of the most common “traffic shaping” practices known to companies is the “throttling” method where ISPs directly slow down websites such as P2P and porn sites to allow other websites to go faster in the company’s system.
This is done by most companies since music, movies, and bulk document files are eat up large bandwidth. The issue has long been brought up by the ISP to the telecom regulators, saying that illegal downloading of music files choke out their networks.
Meanwhile, the CRTC has ordered the Internet Service Providers to give at least 33 days notice to their retail consumers while wholesale buyers should have at least 60 days before the actual implementation of the new traffic management scheme.