US takes a step forward; Canada takes one back
Today, I woke up to the great news that the Obama administration has announced Startup America, an initiative to spur innovation and entrepreneurship. This includes a $1 billion early-stage innovation fund for high growth startups, expanding entrepreneurship education and incubation programs, and collaboration with the private sectors. With these commitments and changes, one of the most startup friendly country in the world, and it makes good on Obama's promise to invest in technology and entrepreneurship. You can read more about Techcrunch's report here.
Sadly, across the border, my home country is taking a big step backwards by approving metered Internet. Starting in March 31, large telecoms such as BCE can impose metered Internet to smaller ISPs, who in turn will need to pass the extra cost to their customers. It remains to be seen whether the large telecoms themselves will impose metered Internet with a smaller cap. This is not good for online usage, especially in an age where video streaming is commonplace. Netflix had just started their operations a few months ago in Canada. If metered Internet usage becomes commonplace, it will increase the cost of Internet access for consumers, stifle innovation, and slow down technological growth. Internet usage is like the lifeblood of technology. Charging more for it will slow down overall blood flow of the system and dramatically slow growth.
Please join me in signing this petition to stop metering Internet use at http://openmedia.ca/meter.
