Gamers Take a Stand For Online Choice

Gamers demonstrate Rogers’ restrictions, ask for open access to online games

October 17, 2011—The Canadian Gamers Organization (CGO), a group currently at the forefront of the fight for net neutrality (Internet openness), has submitted their final response to the CRTC’s request for information. The CGO has been fighting Rogers for discriminating against online applications—namely World of Warcraft and Call of Duty Black Ops—using illegitimate Internet traffic management practices.

The filing comes after months of back and forth between Rogers, the CRTC and the CGO.

“Canadians should not be made to wade through a sea of technical data to enforce the CRTC’s rules,” says CGO co-founder Jason Koblovsky. “There has been strong evidence from the start of this fight—which dates all the way back to January—that Rogers is not respecting Internet openness rules. When faced with this evidence, the CRTC should be taking proactive measures to ensure their rules are respected, rather than pushing the onus onto Canadians.”

OpenMedia.ca, a non-profit organization with over half-a-million supporters, has come out in support of the CGO’s initiative on this issue. OpenMedia.ca has long decried the lack of enforcement of Canada’s Internet openness rules for the inadequate protection it affords online choice and innovation.

OpenMedia.ca Executive Director, Steve Anderson states, “Canadians have been crystal clear: we want access to all the Internet has to offer. It’s past time for the CRTC to enforce Internet openness rules, and prevent discriminatory traffic management by conducting regular Internet openness compliance audits.”

Canadians can learn more about Internet openness at http://openmedia.ca/saveournet. Readers can also read about how the CGO is fighting for access to online services, and sign a petition calling for an open Internet at http://openmedia.ca/gamers.

About the Canadian Gamers Organization

Canadian gamers need a voice both politically and legally. The Canadian Gamers Organization (CGO) helps Canadian gamers have a voice among industry, regulators, and politicians.

The CGO believes that games are not just games, they are products under law. They are highly sophisticated pieces of software that run on high end consoles and systems. Canadian consumers should gain the maximum enjoyment when playing the products we buy.

About OpenMedia.ca

OpenMedia.ca is a national, non-partisan, non-profit public engagement organization working to advance and support an open and innovative communications system in Canada. Our primary goal is to increase public awareness and informed participation in Canadian media, cultural, information, and telecommunications policy formation.

OpenMedia.ca is best known for coordinating the Stop The Meter campaign earlier this year. The Stop The Meter campaign is widely considered the biggest online citizens’ campaign in Canadian history, involving nearly half-a-million Canadians.

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Contact

Lindsey Pinto
Communications Manager, OpenMedia.ca
778-238-7710
lindsey@openmedia.ca