Providers not ‘stupid enough’ to be audited under new CRTC guidelines, ISPs say

New CRTC guidelines allowing the commission to order third-party audits of Internet throttling systems are unlikely to ever be used because service providers are not “stupid enough” to misrepresent information to the commission in the first place, ISPs say. Senior executives from Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. told The Wire Report in an interview that Internet service providers (ISPs) will avoid the audits through frank and honest disclosure of their Internet traffic management practices when asked to do so. “If somebody was stupid enough to do some traffic management and not tell the truth about it, I expect they will get their comeuppance,” Ken Engelhart, Rogers’ vice-president of regulatory affairs, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “But I don’t expect that’s ever going to happen.” In the commission’s new throttling guidelines released last month, the CRTC established the right to order third-party audits on service providers found to be in non-compliance with traffic management policies or the Telecommunications Act. One policy condition says providers must be forthcoming about what traffic management practices they employ and how they can affect Internet customers. The guidelines note that the commission’s compliance and enforcement branch could base its decisions on policy breaches on in-depth reviews of consumer complaints or on “its observation of statistical patterns among individual complaints of a similar nature about a specific ISP.” Rogers and Shaw said they would readily submit to an audit if asked to do so. They also said they found it unlikely the commission would ever need to order an audit. “There would never be a need, in our view, for the commission to start ordering something like this,” Peter Bissonnette, Shaw’s president, said. “If you’re candid and transparent, then you don’t really need an audit. An audit goes to the point where you don’t trust what you’re hearing.” Engelhart said he suspects all service providers are forthcoming about their practices. “It’s all very theoretical,” he said of the potential audits. “I don’t think it will ever happen because I think every ISP is accurately reporting how their ITMPs work.” David Fewer, counsel with public interest group the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), said the traffic measurement and data reporting techniques used by different service providers allows them to represent their traffic management practices favourably, even when they might not be in compliance with commission regulations. “It’s not a question of lying to the commission,” Fewer said. “There’s a diverse way of presenting your facts to the commission that stops short of lying.” From a consumer perspective, Fewer said, third-party audits could be a positive step if they help establish measurement and reporting standards. They may also prove to be a more efficient use of commission resources than individual investigations into complaints about throttling, he said. Engelhart said the commission could order a service provider to assume the costs of an audit, reducing any financial burdens. “I’ve never known the CRTC to do it, but the Privacy Commissioner’s Office has done it. They’ve ordered people to hire auditors to audit their privacy practices,” he said. Consumer advocacy groups have urged the CRTC to take a stronger approach to enforcement and order regular audits of ISPs' traffic management systems. Michael Geist, the Canada research chair of Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, has also said audits are the only way to improve an enforcement system that relies too heavily on customer complaints. Engelhart said the throttling practices of a relatively small number of ISPs in Canada are under constant scrutiny. “The idea that somebody would do something other than what they say they’re doing and not get caught is absurd,” he said. Telus Communications Co. says it does not use any throttling practices. Quebecor Media Inc. subsidiary Videotron Ltée. did not respond to an interview request and Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. declined an interview. nkyonka@thewirereport.ca

Providers not ‘stupid enough’ to be audited under new CRTC guidelines, ISPs say

News | October 12, 2011

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