Sandvine is a company whos time has come. They are in the business of "design[ing] to implement broad network policies, ranging from service creation through billing through congestion management through security" So with the recent uptick in ISPs implementing content filtering & bandwidth/packet shaping, they and their shareholders are looking at clear sailing ahead.

At the heart of that control is technology developed by the likes of Waterloo, Ont.-based Sandvine Inc., which allows service providers to determine what type of traffic is going over their networks, and manage accordingly. Following the panel discussion, Dave Caputo, Sandvine's chief executive officer, talked about the company and its role in the net neutrality debate with CBCNews.ca.

The rest of the interview is here.

An interesting note is from Mr. Caputo stating that for every megabit of bandwidth you are sold, the ISP buys only a quarter of that as they are counting on you not using your connection to its fullest at all times. This makes sense from a business standpoint, but it contradicts what the ISPs are saying about the top 5% of their users eating up a very significant portion of the available bandwidth. If this 4:1 ratio were fully observed, those 5% could take up no more than 20% of available bandwidth, leaving more than enough for the remainder.

Now as it stands, I would be tickled pink if my ISP were on this ratio. They currently stand at 35Mbits to every 3Mbits. Lousy.

A reader pointed out an article by one Tom Yager. I've quite honestly not heard the name, but the internet is a pretty big place so that doesn't mean a whole lot, I suppose? Nonetheless, the article notes the inevitable march towards digital television and the pros & cons that it brings.

The very characteristic that makes digital TV look so good is the one that makes it so vulnerable to restriction and manipulation: A TV broadcast is no longer a signal, it's a bitstream, one that has far fewer points of origination than the Internet and is therefore easier to control. Digital TV is rapidly heading for precisely the sort of lockdown that entertainment and broadcast lobbies desire for the Internet, and to the extent that they can be used as video players and recorders, our PCs, Macs, and notebooks.

The primary example of digital lockdown is HDMI, the High Definition Multimedia Interface. Simply put, HDMI is how you get digital video into a high-definition TV. HDMI looks like a dream come true: A single cable with a small connector passes digital video, digital audio, and control signals. HDMI has always incorporated High Definition Copy Protection (HDCP), but for a long time its enforcement was relaxed. You could hook an LCD computer monitor to a cable box or DVD player with an HDMI output. All you needed was a $20 HDMI/DVI adapter.

I urge you to read the rest of the article. It makes clear that the entertainment lobby has been left unchecked for far too long.

I've done some software upgrades on a number of components as well as adding a download feature. So far I seem to have been able to fix all of the bugs with the upgrade, but I'm still battling the download feature. It lists the downloads but does not actually have links to the documents.

Bummer.

(ArsTechnica) When Bell Canada began throttling P2P access on its network for nine hours a day in an effort to keep the tubes clear, the company probably didn't mean to goad regulators into launching a major net neutrality proceeding that could set the ground rules for ISPs across the country. But judging from this week's comments by Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) boss Konrad von Finckenstein, Q.C., that's exactly what Bell Canada is about to get.

In a speech this week (PDF), von Finckenstein pointed out that the dispute between Bell Canada and the group of small ISPs that lease wholesale access from it was only "the tip of the iceberg. Under the heading of 'net neutrality' lies a whole range of questions affecting consumers and service providers. Fundamental issues of technology, economics, competition, access and freedom of speech are all involved."

But will the CRTC take up such questions? von Finckenstein certainly hinted that it would, saying, "In the coming year, we will continue to study the issues surrounding net neutrality. This process could evolve into a major public consultation in order to obtain the views of interested parties. It is one of the polarizing issues of the day. It will have to be addressed and debated by all of us."

This is good news. There are too many forms of legitimate P2P applications for this sort of heavy-handedness to be justifiable on Bell's part. For those who don't know who Bell is, they control a vast majority of the network that carries phone & DSL.

The Canadian mainstream press is thankfully doing its bit in getting the word out on Bill C-61, and largely in a neutral way, for which they are to be commended. Coverage on CBC and The Star is well balanced and well written and advocates from both sides are often given the chance to speak.

The CBC commissioned Angus Reid to poll a number of Canadians with regards to C-61, hoping that enough coverage has been given to the draft legislation. And the results are in.

Dead. Even.

45% of Canadians are in agreement with Bill C-61. 45% of Canadians are against it. In case you think us Canucks are bad at math, the remaining 20% 10% are undecided.

However, the news comes from the demographics. 58% of respondents 18-34 were opposed, while only 34% of respondents 35-54 are opposed. 27% of respondents 55 and older are opposed.

More surprising. 45% of respondents a high-school or against the bill, while those with a college or higher education are more likely to be againt it, coming in at 60% opposed.

Also of note, 76% of respondents believe the North American music industry has had a very heavy hand in the creation of the bill, shooting the governments claims of the bill being drafted in Canada for Canadians full of holes.

Lastly, it seems women are all for the bill with only 29% of female respondents against the bill, while 49% of all male respondents are opposed. That last tidbit is interesting, as Michael Geist points out, as the Conservative Party looks to the younger male demographic for it's core voters.

Sadly, over half of the respondents believed that downloading music without paying for it isn't stealing.