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Net neutrality is the idea that the Internet should remain open and content neutral. In other words, any application you decide to use, or any device you plug into the Internet, should be given equal access to the network. It is important because the fact that the Internet is open and neutral has encouraged the spirit of competition and innovation, which shaped the modern-day Internet. If the Internet does not remain neutral, freedom of speech and innovation could be threatened.

Anderson got involved in the issue of net neutrality after U.S. telecommunications giant Comcast was caught slowing down Bittorrent, a peer-to-peer file sharing service. Bittorrent allows people to distribute the bandwidth involved in sharing files, by simultaneously uploading and downloading pieces of the file with people from around the globe. This process ends up consuming a lot of bandwidth and can put strain on the service provider's network. Anderson himself was involved in independent journalism and online video production and feared the same technology could be used to limit access to the bandwidth-intensive sites that independent media often rely upon to get their message out.

I was determined to find out more about this issue, so I decided to listen to Anderson speak at an event called Media Democracy Day (MDD), which was held at Vancouver's Central Library on a dreary Saturday afternoon. When I arrived, I found the main hall of the library filled with booths representing an eclectic mix of groups, ranging from underground media organizations to student associations.

The first booth I walked up to had signs stressing the dangers of oil spills. The group was advocating a moratorium on oil tankers along the coast of British Columbia. In a hallway full of left-wing media outlets and groups devoted to information technology issues, this one seemed a little out of place. “Why should we ban oil tankers?” I asked the girl sitting behind the desk. She hastily pulled out a map showing a proposed pipeline running from the oil sands in Northern Alberta to the coast. It quickly became apparent to me that they were not actually concerned with oil spills; rather, they were using the issue as a means to halt oil sands development.

Now, I should tell you that I'm a red-blooded Albertan and there are few things that annoy me more than West Coast lefties trying to shutdown the economic engine of my home province. “So how do you fit in with Media Democracy Day?” I asked. “Well, we don't think this pipeline should be built. Just like how the airwaves belong to everyone, we want to put all the land in the public domain,” she replied.

When I pointed out that in Canada, public land is owned by the Crown, I found her response quite interesting: “I guess the government is very corporate.” This is the key to understanding the psychology of MDD participants. The bad guy, the existential threat, is not the one entity that can forcefully redistribute the product of a man's labour and call it equity; not the one organization that can enforce its will at gunpoint and call it justice. Rather, it is the profit-seeking corporation that is to blame for society's ills.

After wading through the various displays in the main hallway trying to get a better sense of what these people were all about, I headed downstairs to hear Anderson's talk on net neutrality. I found a seat in the centre of the room and watched Anderson set up the projector, as about half a dozen other people walked in to listen to him speak.

He began by showing a video, which highlighted the issue of net neutrality in Canada and proceeded to take questions from the audience. It quickly became apparent to me that this was a question and answer session. “Any other questions?” asked Anderson after about 20 minutes. “Alright, I will wrap it up.”

“If you want questions…” I interjected. And so, I spent the better part of the next hour firing off a series of questions to try and get a better sense of what was going on and what can be done to fix it.