CBC British Columbia - Telus blocks access to pro-union websites

by Tris Hussey | July 25, 2005 at 09:17 pm

1068 views | 0 Recommendations | 3 comments

Telus has blocked access to two websites associated with the Telecommunications Workers Union, as the strike-lockout continues.

The company says one website called on striking workers to jam customer service lines, while the other one had posted pictures of Telus employees crossing picket lines to go to work.

Telus vice president Drew McArthur says the site with the service-jamming information hurt the company. And he says the other site showing workers' pictures was a safety threat.

Found on Boing-Boing:

The Telecommunications Act contains at least two provisions that appear
relevant. Section 27(2) provides that "No Canadian carrier shall, in
relation to the provision of a telecommunications service or the
charging of a rate for it, unjustly discriminate or give an undue or
unreasonable preference toward any person, including itself, or subject
any person to an undue or unreasonable disadvantage." It seems to me
that a compelling case could be made that Telus is unjustly
discriminating against this particular website, which puts the site at
a disadvantage. In fact, Telus argued that this is precisely what the
provision does during the CRTC's VoIP hearings. As part of the CRTC
analysis on whether it should prohibit packet preferencing, it notes
that Telus argued against a prohibition, submitting to the CRTC that it
"retained the subsection 27(2) prohibition on unjust discrimination."
Moreover, Telus "submitted that it had committed not to do anything to
deliberately degrade the service experienced by an end-user of any
access-independent VoIP service."

Section 36 is even more on point. It provides that "except where
the Commission approves otherwise, a Canadian carrier shall not control
the content or influence the meaning or purpose of telecommunications
carried by it for the public." This appears to directly address the
current situation as Telus is in fact controlling the content carried
by it for the public.

via: Michael

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mtippett

at 08:19 on July 26th, 2005

Are the sites available outside of Telus to people who don't work there? Any URLs? Anyone know anything else about this? Seems - on the surface - like an unwarrented move by Telus.

Tris Hussey

at 08:36 on July 26th, 2005

Here is some of my additional thoughts on this and a call for a Canadian EFF: Telus blocking pro-union websites ... does Canada need an EFF?

at 08:40 on July 27th, 2005

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