Avril Lavigne

Net neutrality bill hits House of Commons

The NDP has followed through with its promise to introduce legislation to the House of Commons that seeks to keep the internet open and free from control by service providers.

“This bill is about fairness to consumers,” said Charlie Angus, the NDP’s digital spokesman, in the House of Commons on Wednesday. “The internet is a critical piece of infrastructure not just for Canada but for the world … this bill protects the innovation agenda of Canada.”

The private member’s bill, C-552, is in reaction to moves by some of Canada’s largest internet service providers (ISPs), including Bell Canada Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc., to limit their customers’ uses of the internet. Bell, Rogers and a few others say a small percentage of customers have been congesting their networks by using peer-to-peer applications such as BitTorrent, so they have slowed the internet down at peak times of the day.

Japan shelves quake aid plan after China concern

TOKYO, May 30 (Reuters) – Japan has shelved plans for its military to fly tents and blankets to China in the aftermath of the devastating May 12 earthquake on concerns in China over the move, a senior government official said on Friday.

Japanese media said on Thursday the military would deliver assistance in what would be its first deployment to China since the end of World War Two and a step in strengthening Sino-Japanese ties, long troubled by their wartime past.

But Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said the idea, floated after Japan received a request from China for assistance, had been put off.

“As there were concerns in China, Japan and China had discussions and decided to shelve the idea of Self-Defence Forces planes providing transport,” Machimura told a news conference. Japan refers to its military as Self-Defence Forces.

Touch point: An early look at the next Windows

Multi-touch computing was presented this week as part of Microsoft’s peek at its next operating system, but it’s not likely to be what determines its success.

The new operating system, called Windows 7, is being built upon the current one, Windows Vista, which has been scorned by many for its features, including its achingly slow performance and incompatibilities with existing software and hardware. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

It’s not clear yet whether Windows 7 will mean an improvement in those areas. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer, both at The Wall Street Journal’s “D: All Things Digital” conference, where a preview of the new OS was shown, didn’t address those issues.