The network neutrality fight, which has absolutely exploded in Canada in recent months, now has even more ammo after a punk rocker-turned-MP introduced his own network neutrality bill at the House of Commons.

Charlie Angus, who represents Timmins and James Bay, launched his bill one day after 300 people showed up in Ottawa to protest the issue. "You are citizens of a digital realm and you have rights," Angus told the crowd, according to the CBC. The crowd then chanted, "Whose net? Our net!" As a slogan, this leaves something to be desired, but it does get the point across.

The debate has been sparked in large part by recent revelations about traffic-shaping by Bell Canada, shaping that has allegedly reduced the speed of many P2P sessions by 90 percent. It applies even to ISPs who resell wholesale access from Bell, and these ISPs have brought Canadian regulators into the battle over the issue.



Angus sings the net neutrality blues

Angus wants Parliament to debate the topic, and his brief bill amends Canada's Telecommunications Act to prohibit various forms of discrimination. P2Pnet hosts a copy of the text, which outlaws "network management practices that favour, degrade or prioritise any content, application or service is transmitted over a broadband network based on its source, ownership or destination." Reasonable network management is still allowed, and ISPs are explicitly allowed to charge different prices for different levels of bandwidth.

Angus used to earn his living from copyrights as a musician in the bands L'Etranger and Grievous Angels, and in an interview this week with the CBC's "Search Engine" radio program (podcast), he spoke with passion about the issue of digital rights and the new common space created by the Internet. He objects to Canadian 'Net users being referred to incessantly as "consumers" and talks instead of them as "citizens" and the Internet as a hugely empowering medium for democracy.

Angus' bill was introduced before the long-delayed copyright overhaul bill expected any time now, and Angus seems quite sure that the copyright bill will basically import the DMCA rules wholesale from the US. His bill is an attempt to strike first with a pro-consumer measure that could also (if it gains traction) put pressure on Canadian regulators to act against companies like Bell Canada and Rogers, another notorious Canadian traffic shaper.

Much as the US debate over the net neutrality issue spawned SavetheInteret.com, Canada's fight this week produced SaveOurNet.ca, a group designed to channel money and manpower where it's needed most.