A letter to my MP

Dear Mr. Sweet:

As you may know, Cogeco Cable has begun the implementation of "additional usage billing" for their residential Internet service. Under this system, customers will be charged on a per-gigabyte basis for Internet usage exceeding certain monthly limits.

A similar system piloted by Time Warner Cable in the United States met with significant opposition from consumers and politicians, most notably Senator Charles Schumer. Senator Schumer understands that our Internet infrastructure is as critical to the health and growth of our information-based economy as transportation, power, and water infrastructures are to industrial economies. Because companies such as Cogeco, which enjoy monopolies over cable services within their designated service areas, are critical to this infrastructure, those companies must be carefully monitored and regulated.

Mr. Sweet, Cogeco's actions will dissuade consumers from utilizing Internet-based services that consume significant bandwidth, out of fear that they may incur additional charges. Cogeco may tell you that such "services" today are for the most part illegal file sharing. They may tell you that most of their customers will be unaffected by, or even benefit from, this policy. This may or may not be true, but it misses the point: legitimate and economically-valuable technical innovation in high-bandwidth services will be stifled if consumers can't afford the bandwidth those services require. It is ironic, I think, that the very types of business that might be drawn to Hamilton by such features as the McMaster Innovation Park might instead be drawn to New York State because of Cogeco's policies.

I hope you will follow the example of Senator Schumer and lead the charge against this threat.

Regards,

Keith Mann