{"id":293588,"date":"2016-04-19T19:48:35","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T23:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/2016\/04\/guilty-pleasures-and-proper-needs-who-gets-what-kind-of-internet-and-who-decides\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T15:27:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T19:27:07","slug":"guilty-pleasures-and-proper-needs-who-gets-what-kind-of-internet-and-who-decides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/04\/guilty-pleasures-and-proper-needs-who-gets-what-kind-of-internet-and-who-decides\/","title":{"rendered":"Guilty pleasures and proper needs: Who gets what kind of Internet, and who decides?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, I joined several other speakers at the Internet4All public forum held by ACORN, an advocacy organization that works on behalf of low- and moderate-income families in cities and neighbourhoods across Canada. The event was part of the run up to the CRTC\u2019s review of basic telecoms service<\/a>. ACORN and its other partners in the Affordable Access Coalition told the commission that broadband Internet access is expensive and out-of-reach not just for people in rural and remote areas \u2013 the focus of many of the presenters in the first three days of the Commission\u2019s review \u2013 but for people with low incomes in cities across the country as well.<\/p>\n

ACORN\u2019s Internet4All Public Forum<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The link between income, affordability and Internet adoption is clear, even if\u00a0the exact causal links between\u00a0them are not. Thus, while 80% of households in Canada subscribe to the Internet from home, 2-out-of-5 in the lowest income bracket do not, and one-out-of-every-three Canadians do not have a mobile phone. At the top of the income scale, in contrast, adoption levels are close to universal at over 95% for both. The figure below illustrates the points.<\/p>\n

\"3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While there are those who wonder if this is because some people might not want to use the Internet, the strong relationship between income and adoption suggests that this is not a choice but a function of affordability. Moreover, study after study tell us one thing:\u00a0that the price of broadband Internet and mobile phone services in Canada are high by the measure of all respectable studies of the issue (see, for example, the\u00a0Wall<\/a>,\u00a0OECD<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0FCC<\/a>\u00a0reports). The high prices these studies document might account for a\u00a0modest portion of the budget<\/a>\u00a0for the \u201caverage Canadian\u201d, but for low- and modern-income families they compete with putting food on the table and a roof over their heads.<\/p>\n

Such realities also help to describe why, at best,\u00a0\u2018wired broadband internet<\/a>\u2019 adoption rates in Canada fare\u00a0only reasonably well compared to other developed countries, but\u00a0terribly for\u00a0mobile wireless services. That affordability is clearly an issue is also illustrated by the fact that in Toronto just\u00a020% of households<\/a>\u00a0in public housing communities have broadband Internet service.\u00a0These are the realities that are motivating ACORN members, and why the advocacy group went last week to the CRTC hearings.<\/p>\n

While the industry has done little to counter these realities, at least one has taken\u00a0voluntary steps to help ameliorate the problem for some:\u00a0Rogers. In 2013, it\u00a0launched its \u2018connected for success\u2019 initiative with the aim of bringing affordable broadband Internet access to 58,000 low income families in Toronto public community housing.\u00a0Earlier this week, Rogers\u00a0came to the\u00a0Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corp.\u00a0to announce<\/a>\u00a0that the\u00a0program is being extended to 150,000 families in 533 public housing communities in\u00a0Ontario, New Brunswick and\u00a0Newfoundland\u00a0& Labrador for the next two years.<\/p>\n

In its expanded \u201cconnected for success\u201d initiative, Rogers offers\u00a0broadband internet with speeds of up to 10 Mbps download and up to 1 Mbps upload, with\u00a0data caps of 30 GB, for $9.99 per month. As a voluntary effort, this is certainly a\u00a0step in the right direction.<\/p>\n

At the same time, however, announced on the eve of the CRTC\u2019s review of the basic telecoms service it is hard not to see the venture as a fine example of \u201cregulation by raised eyebrow,\u201d where just the threat of regulatory action brings about some gestures toward the desired results.<\/p>\n

The people attending ACORN\u2019s internet4all forum also suggested that while Rogers\u2019\u00a0focus on non-profit community housing is good, the vast\u00a0majority of low-income\u00a0families do not live in\u00a0social housing but market housing. Who will serve them?<\/p>\n

In Ontario alone, 168,000\u00a0families were on the\u00a0waiting list for community housing<\/a>\u00a0last year. This is\u00a0more than Rogers is targeting across\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0of Central and Eastern Canada! For them, the cheapest\u00a0option Rogers offers is its\u00a0newly launched\u00a0\u201cInternet 5<\/a>\u201d service, but it\u00a0offers only half the speed of the public\u00a0housing option and is three times the price, once the cost of renting the modem is factored in.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest drawback is that\u00a0these services are designed for individuals rather than households with several family\u00a0members who might be running multiple devices at the same time, as Rogers\u2019\u00a0own\u00a0marketing materials on its website<\/a>\u00a0indicate. \u00a0It is not just that the speeds are slow but that the\u00a0data caps for\u00a0both services \u2014 30 GB for the public housing version, 25 for the latter \u2013 are exceedingly low.\u00a0Cisco<\/a>, in contrast,\u00a0estimates the average Canadian household used 56 GB in 2014, and is expected to reach around 180 GB by 2019.<\/p>\n

Figure 2: Rogers Internet Service Plans Compared<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And what about the\u00a0punishing overage charges that come along with those low data caps? On this, many of those attending the internet4all event had a lot to say. Lastly, what happens to those who sign up for \u201cconnected for success\u201d when the program meets its expiry\u00a0date in two years?<\/p>\n

Some argue that some access is better than none. More specifically, there are those who assert\u00a0that when it comes to defining\u00a0basic<\/em>\u00a0Internet service, the aim is to give people basic\u00a0<\/em>broadband Internet\u00a0based on\u00a0need<\/em>\u00a0rather than\u00a0wants<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0desires<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We have certainly heard a lot of this kind of thinking already. Telus, in particular, argues\u00a0that the only change the CRTC should consider\u00a0is making the\u00a0current\u00a0\u201caspirational target\u201d of 5 Mbps upload speed and 1 Mbps download speed for all Canadians a\u00a0formal obligation (see\u00a0here<\/a>, for example). There are those who emphasize that the 25-30 Mbps upload speed and 3 download speed standards that have been adopted in the US and in 28 EU countries, and apply to all citizens. Telus says humbug.<\/p>\n

Telus says that email access, web browsing and e-commerce are sufficient enough for people to participate in the digital economy, dismissing the argument that people use the Internet differently \u2013 viewing video and using multiple devices at the same time, for example.<\/p>\n

The commission also appeared to strike a similar note when\u00a0Chairman J. P. Blais<\/a>\u00a0kicked off proceedings with the remark that the basic service objective must be\u00a0firmly grounded in evidence, and that \u201cit is crucial not to confuse \u2018wants\u2019 with \u2018needs\u2019\u201d. Some chimed in immediately that\u00a0Blais\u2019 words reflected a \u201cdisciplined start\u201d, while\u00a0the CBC<\/a>, in contrast, interpreted the remarks to imply that the commission had already trimmed its sails and people ought not to expect much. Already by the end of first day, however, the Commission seemed to soften its tone.<\/p>\n

Drawing the lines between basic needs and whatever else people might do with their Internet connections along the lines of what Telus suggests, has a long and hoary history. People have been told that they should be accessing the media at their disposal for more \u201cimportant\u201d uses. When I expanded on this idea\u00a0at ACORN\u2019s Internet4All forum,\u00a0people got up one after another to give rhyme and verse on why such distinctions are not only wrong-headed but objectionable. Why should people and families with\u00a0low incomes \u2014 precisely the ones most likely to \u201ccut the cable cord\u201d to save money \u2014be told that watching TV is beyond the pale?<\/p>\n

On this point, I heard much about Netflix and cartoons, and how telling stories, art and culture are essential to who we are as human beings, to our imaginations, and how we express ourselves.<\/p>\n

And what about\u00a0using the Internet to get the news, a point that Chairman Blais also appears to fully grasp. He noted that with the French language newspaper\u00a0La Presse<\/em>\u00a0being available online only now, people have to have an Internet connection to read it. This chimes with the results of a recent\u00a0Statistics Canada study<\/a>\u00a0on how people \u201cget the news\u201d. As\u00a0the video component of online news grows, it is going to become a lot harder to\u00a0carve out this\u00a0bandwidth intensive aspect of online news from the low capacity text based part.<\/p>\n

Another person observed that as government departments put\u00a0more information online they are also putting it online in video form. She pointed to Health Canada videos on palliative care and diabetes to illustrate the\u00a0point, and to the essential role that these videos play in\u00a0educating people and raising awareness about both conditions. How to distinguish between such \u201cworthy\u201d forms of high bandwidth intensity video and the frivolous kind we don\u2019t hold aloft?<\/p>\n

Another woman spoke about how her\u00a0hearing impaired partner communicates regularly with her family back home in Australia by video and how doing so is not only crucial to their relationship but to her partner\u2019s mental well-being\u00a0more generally. Then there was another woman who spoke of coupon cutting online because, well, all the coupons are now online, and so too, by the way, are most of the rental housing advertisements.<\/p>\n

A young man came up afterward and spoke to me about working\u00a0a grueling 70+ hour work week throughout high school because both of his parents were on\u00a0the\u00a0Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), and the income they received was not enough to make ends meet. Despite being in the \u201cgifted class\u201d at Lisgar Collegiate here in Ottawa, with an average over 90%, his role of main family breadwinner meant that\u00a0he had to drop out, unable to meet the competing demands of doing both.\u00a0Yet, a few years later\u00a0he completed an Internet-based high school course, much of it based on instructional videos and video conferencing. He\u2019s now at Algonquin College with hopes to complete his studies at Carleton when finances allow.<\/p>\n

Another helped a friend faced with a $190 repair bill for a broken washing machine that she could ill afford. Instead of calling the Maytag repair guy,\u00a0he turned to YouTube, found a $3 solution, and his friend kept her much needed money for other pressing uses. As a\u00a0recent MTM study<\/a>\u00a0observes, nearly two-thirds of all Canadians used YouTube to learn how to fix or do something in the last year.<\/p>\n

Of course we can pile up anecdotes like leaves in autumn but the point is, that even those of us who study these matters full-time don\u2019t have a clue about many of the things that people do with the Internet, for both pleasure and productive purposes. I see little way to effectively distinguish between the two and don\u2019t think that much good will come from trying.<\/p>\n

That we don\u2019t know the half of how people use the media comes as no surprise to communication\u00a0scholars because if the field\u00a0teaches anything, it teaches that people use communication technologies in unintended ways and that this in turn pushes those technologies along unanticipated paths of development.\u00a0Any effort to distinguish between \u201cbasic\u201d uses that people should have access to as part of an affordable broadband Internet obligation and those they shouldn\u2019t risks running roughshod over these lessons. Worse, it risks substituting the regulator and carriers\u2019 judgments for what people themselves are in the best position to decide.<\/p>\n

As I pointed out in\u00a0my testimony<\/a>\u00a0to the Commission the other day, providing people with affordable, universal broadband Internet in the 21st century is a necessity, and it is in line with what we have done historically in Canada in relation to plain old telephone service. It is also in line with what other countries comparable to ours are doing around the world.<\/p>\n

To be sure, this is going to cost money, and that means that somebody\u2019s going to have to pay and who\u00a0ultimately\u00a0pays\u00a0will be us \u2014 citizens and taxpayers. I do not see a problem with\u00a0that.<\/p>\n

Total federal subsidies for broadband Internet development and affordable prices in Canada are at\u00a0the very low end of the scale at around $2 per year. This is similar to what people in Bulgaria, Romania and Austria invest, whereas I think we could easily move into the middle of the pack to spend, say,\u00a0$4.50 to $12 a person per year as they do \u2014 that is 40 cents to a buck a month extra on our internet bills \u2014\u00a0in\u00a0Sweden, Estonia, the UK, Germany and Finland to subsidize internet development (compared to NZ and Australia at $25 and $163, per person,\u00a0per year<\/strong><\/em>, respectively, for\u00a0their own national broadband initiatives).<\/p>\n

Consider this as well:\u00a0In Canada, compare the $2 per person per year in total federal subsidies for broadband connectivity to the $33 given to the CBC, by contrast. The point is not to bring the latter down to the former by any stretch of the imagination, but rather to bring broadband subsidies closer to those that we give to the CBC (to say nothing of the myriad of other \u2018content subsidies\u2019). In the Internet age, while content may be king, it is connectivity that is probably emperor. Our public funding arrangements should better reflect such priorities.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, any steps to draw lines\u00a0between frivolous wants that we can cast aside and productive uses that can be folded into basic Internet service will\u00a0likely look, at least in hindsight, like so many similar such efforts in the past: as paternalistic and elitist efforts, and foolish ones at that. The commission should give little credence to such ideas, and indeed should reject them out of hand. Get the structure of the Internet policy framework right, and the rest will likely fall into place as it should.<\/p>\n

For these reasons, we need less flinty-eyed, utilitarian outlooks drawn from Victorian England and a more imaginative view of the future, albeit one that is still grounded in what people are already doing with the internet and with plenty of room to grow so that\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>Canadian\u00a0citizens can use the Internet as they\u00a0see fit, both today and tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\n

Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the <\/em>Policy Options discussion, and send in your own submission. <\/em>Here is a <\/em>link<\/em><\/a> on how to do it. |\u00a0<\/em>Souhaitez-vous r\u00e9agir \u00e0 cet article ?\u00a0 Joignez-vous aux d\u00e9bats d\u2019<\/em>Options politiques et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces <\/em>directives<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I joined several other speakers at the Internet4All public forum held by ACORN, an advocacy organization that works on behalf of low- and moderate-income families in cities and neighbourhoods across Canada. The event was part of the run up to the CRTC\u2019s review of basic telecoms service. ACORN and its other partners in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":293028,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[],"class_list":["post-293588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGuilty pleasures and proper needs: Who gets what kind of Internet, and who decides?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/04\/guilty-pleasures-and-proper-needs-who-gets-what-kind-of-internet-and-who-decides\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guilty pleasures and proper needs: Who gets what kind of Internet, and who decides?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week, I joined several other speakers at the Internet4All public forum held by ACORN, an advocacy organization that works on behalf of low- and moderate-income families in cities and neighbourhoods across Canada. 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