Rogers Communications is breaking the law by deliberately slowing down certain types of Internet traffic, says Canada’s telecom regulator.

In a letter made public Jan. 20, the CRTC gives Rogers two weeks to show it’s complying with the rules.

“Commission staff is of the belief that Rogers applies a technical ITMP to unidentified traffic using default peer-to-peer (P2P) ports,” said Andrea Rosen, the CRTC’s chief compliance and enforcement officer.

“On the basis of our evidence to date, any traffic from an unidentified time-sensitive application making use of P2P ports will be throttled, resulting in noticeable degradation of such traffic.”

Do you feel betrayed by the bafflegab? Mystified by the mumbo-jumbo?

You’re not alone. The CRTC writes in such arcane language that it shuts out most Internet users.

To clarify the issues at stake, I’ve written a guide I hope you can understand.

Q: What is ITMP and why should you care about it?

A: It stands for Internet Traffic Management Practices and refers to methods used by service providers to reduce congestion on their networks.

Think of the Internet as a busy road, such as the 401 or Don Valley Parkway. There are no major holdups if there’s a steady stream of traffic all day, but the 401 and DVP get congested during morning and evening rush hours.

The Internet also has rush hours, when people use it more often. And just as heavy trucks can clog traffic on highways, heavy Internet users can clog traffic, too.

So, Internet service providers try to manage traffic in a way that heavy users don’t slow everyone down.

Q: What are the rules for Internet traffic management?

A: The CRTC adopted guidelines — often referred to as net neutrality rules since they tried to balance the needs of light users and heavy users — in October 2009.

Service providers have to disclose their network management policies and give notice before putting restrictions into place. There’s also a complaint mechanism for consumers.

“The immediate concern was the absence of an enforcement mechanism,” said Michael Geist, a University of Ottawa law professor, in his Toronto Star column last July.

Geist filed an access to information request, which showed many complaints about Internet service providers throttling traffic. Rogers was the target of nearly half of all cases opened.

But after finding few consequences arising from the complaints, he said: “Without change, the CRTC’s net neutrality rules offer little protection for Canadian Internet users.”

Q: What’s behind the current CRTC enforcement effort?

A: Teresa Murphy of the Canadian Gamers Organization filed a complaint about Rogers throttling video games. She said it was violating its own policy of slowing down only peer-to-peer traffic, such as sharing movies.

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Patricia Trott, a Rogers spokeswoman, said one game (World of Warcraft) was classified improperly as peer-to-peer traffic. But the problem was fixed after consultations with its software provider, Cisco.

“Gamers are some of our best customers,” she said. “We want them to have a good experience.”

The CRTC did its own tests with Cisco Systems — and found evidence that contradicted Rogers’ test results.

That finding led to last week’s letter and a possible hearing if the regulator isn’t satisfied with the company’s explanation.

“This is a historic day in Canadian tech and telecom history,” said Jason Koblovsky, the Canadian Gamers Organization co-founder, when he learned of the effort to rein in Rogers’ traffic management.

“This is a big win for not just Canadian Internet users but also for game developers, who have been extremely frustrated with the use of throttling.”

Q: What lies ahead for Internet traffic management?

A: Koblovsky, a systems analyst, says the fight isn’t over yet.

In his view, Rogers can’t identify which traffic comes from file sharing and which traffic comes from other programs. The CRTC was warned about this in 2008, but chose not to investigate until now.

In its letter published last week, the CRTC said: “While Rogers has stated that misclassification occurs in only a few cases, staff notes that Cisco identifies various applications that have been misidentified.”

Koblovsky expects a resolution shortly. He commends the CRTC on doing its own testing and not relying so much on what Rogers says in its defence.

Meanwhile, CRTC chair Konrad Von Finckenstein is leaving within a week. He clashed with the Conservative government on several occasions and was not re-appointed to a second five-year term

Ellen Roseman writes about personal finance and consumer issues. You can reach her at eroseman@thestar.ca.

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