Anyone is welcome to submit a Guest Blog Entry to torontomike.com. I received the following earlier today.
Re: Disgusting Telus Practice
If you feel that Telus is acting in a "disgusting practice," then I'm sure you feel the same about the union and its members. Telus has blocked access to the "union site" which you feel is "just so damn wrong," "clearly censorship," "unethical," and "more than a little concerning." Having read the article, I'm sure you'll agree that the union members cutting phone line service (funny enough, resulting in downed internet service) to residents and businesses is also "a little concerning." After all, I don't think you'd be pleased with your phone service cut, not to mention the loss of emergency access. I think you would also agree that posting pictures of people (or "scabs" according to the union) who chose to go to work is also "unethical" of the web site. Which by the way, I don't understand how workers were allowed to cross the line if they were "locked out" by Telus. I think you'll agree that the union has misinformed them and are really just on strike. A strike no member voted on. But I think we can both agree that what Telus has done and what the union has done were both "disgusting practices."
PK
Section 36 of the Telecommunications Act: "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."
I'm sorry to hear Telus has a rather nasty labour situation on its hands, but that doesn't come close to justifying this action. In the service Telus is providing, they have absolutely no right to arbitrarily decide to make certain legal content inaccessible to their customers. Further to that, I cringe at the mere suggestion that shady practices by union members somehow permits the second largest telecommunications company in Canada to block a million users from these sites. Illegal censorship to promote a multi-million dollar corporate empire's agenda is totally unacceptable no matter how many ways you slice it.
