New Deep Packet Inspection website

A new website on deep packet inspection in Canada is now online: www.deeppacketinspection.ca. Deep packet inspection is a networking technology that ISPs use to garner actionable network intelligence about their customers' data traffic.

The technology was at the center of last year's network management/net neutrality hearings by the CRTC, and has been used by American and British companies for behavioural advertising and to engage in particular kinds of networking attacks to dissuade certain uses of ISPs' networks.

The site was born form the desire to have a centralized resource that made evident how deep packet inspection is used in Canada. To this end, available information on the uses of the technology has been collated, and additional information about how Canadian ISPs are or are not using the technology will be pursued.

The site has five stated aims:

1. To develop the largest publicly accessible repository of information concerning the use of DPI in Canada;
2. To explain to Canadians in non-technical language whether and how their ISP uses DPI technologies;
3. To provide regular analyses of current uses of DPI in Canada, as well as abroad when relevant;
4. To facilitate discourse about DPI technologies amongst Canadians;
5. To provide research and analyses of DPI technologies that could be used by government agencies, including privacy and information commissioners.

The site has information on how the tier 1 ISPs (e.g. Bell, Rogers, Cogeco) do, or do not, use DPI in their networks as well as news articles, academic papers, government resources, and DPI-related websites. It also features a regular release of essays produced by parties who research DPI, including academic, civil advocates and, ideally, ISPs and vendors.

Stage two of the project will see information from smaller ISPs in Canada, and stage three will incorporate information about how various Canadian ISPs use the technology. Feedback is welcome!