This is a 'shop. I can tell from the electrons and from seeing many atoms in my time!

"Do you pay bills online? No? Can you VIEW bills online? No? Well...then that just means the hackers will try harder! BUY NORTON NOW!!!"

Brilliant marketing. It's a shame this power can't be harnessed for good.

If I were involved in the case I'd want to do some reliability tests using that model of GPS device and that stretch of road during similar conditions to see if it would jump around a lot. It would be interesting to see how uniform the data is from the GPS tracker in general. Did it ever post a "200mph @ 75ft" instance that the cops could use to discredit it? Or did it always have a firm sat-lock and provide reliable data? Could be a case-maker or breaker.

While I admit that the mental image of my e-mail (and incoming Spam) being powered by a field of defecating bunnies brings a smile to my face, you clearly have not heard of such exotic, arcane and terrifyingly supernatural power generation methods like "wind" or "solar" like I have. Check with your local power company, chances are they have a "buy green power for your grid" program.

If there are people working in Canada, then there is an office. Maybe even a Data Centre. If there is a Data Centre, then there is a building, infrastructure, support industries and quite possibly related technological or research industries using the same CPU cycles. Reselling bandwidth from the US or Europe is a moot point if there is a footprint in Canada...and people earning their bread and butter from it. If it's a better value, greener solution and/or supports the economy...why not have the feds give you a break for that extra 10 seconds of googling? "Canadian Web Host" VS "Web Host", it's really not that big of a deal, just people are lazy.

Simple: Incentive is the easiest way to combat apathy. What I do out of a sense of rightness is my own opinion, I agree...but why not take it to the next step?

Why use Hosting Company A when Hosting Company B is local and more environmentally friendly? Often times it was just the first thing on Google or the flashiest banner add. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but if the CRTC/Ottawa give you a few loonies for your trouble, I'd think a lot more people would at least consider Canadian Hosts, Providers and IT solutions, many of which are on par if not better than US or global alternatives.

If the CRTC wants to encourage Canadian Content on the net, maybe they could lobby Ottawa to create tax breaks for using local companies and carbon-footprint shrinking solutions. I just recently changed my host to a Canadian provider who uses Green Energy for their datacentre and I feel pretty happy about that. I suspect plenty of personal and professional Canadian users would do the same if there was even the most reasonable incentive to do so given out by the Gov.

And best thing about this plan: it wouldn't even require 1 out of every 100 homepages to be an Alanis Morsette or Celine Dion tribute page. (thank God...)