WINNIPEG - Peter Andersen is, by all appearances, a typical Canadian. He lives in Vancouver, works as a computer consultant and has a passion for photography.
But, like many Canadians, he has an alternate life online as an American. In order to get everything from electronic books to U.S. TV shows, he has to pose as a resident of the United States.
"I think it's pretty ridiculous. It shouldn't be necessary," Andersen said. "I'm buying a product that should be for sale (in Canada)."
Andersen has set up a U.S. iTunes account and has a U.S. iPhone account as well. That has enabled him to read electronic books via the Kindle iPhone application, which is not available in Canada. He can also download movies and TV shows that are not available in Canada via the U.S. iTunes online store.
Every so often, he drives across the border to buy iTunes gift cards to reload his U.S. account, since it won't accept Canadian credit cards.
"It's a bit of a pain," he chuckles.
Three times zones away in Ottawa, Sean Hawley is jumping through similar hoops to read electronic books on his iPod Touch. He set up a U.S. iTunes account and a U.S. account with Amazon.com, complete with an American address, in order to get the Kindle application working.
The usage is still limited, because Hawley would need a U.S. credit card to buy many Amazon titles, but he has enjoyed some of the books Amazon offers for free.
Hawley would prefer to have the physical Kindle -- a tablet that has been available in the U.S. for more than two years that allows users to download books, newspapers and other material anywhere they go. But it is not sold in Canada and online stores like Amazon.com won't ship it here.
"I don't understand why. There's no reason why something that's available in the U.S. is not available here," said Hawley, who has started an online petition calling for the Kindle to be brought to Canada.
The Kindle was launched in the United States after Amazon worked out deals with publishers and Sprint's wireless network. No such deal has been worked out in Canada.
While Canadians wait, ebook sales have taken off in the U.S., totalling more than US$62 million in the first half of 2009, according to the International Digital Publishing Forum. When "The Lost Symbol", the latest best-seller from "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown, went on sale in September, Amazon.com sold more electronic copies than physical copies on the day of release.
But it's not just ebook devices that mark the digital divide between Canada and the United States.
South of the border, a wide array of MP3 players are available in retail stores and direct from manufacturers such as Creative Labs, who do not ship to Canada. Amazon.com won't ship them to Canada either and the Canadian Amazon.ca site does not sell them.
That's where border-town parcel stores come in. In tiny Neche, N.D. -- less than two kilometres south of the Manitoba border, with a population of 400 -- Menke's Parcel Service acts as a U.S. shipping address for Canadians. For as little as $2, they'll hold packages of goods that are either unavailable north of the border or subject to high international shipping costs.
"In the last five years, it's amazing how much (business) has increased," said owner Snookie Menke. Canadians use the store for many everyday items such as car parts and appliances as well as U.S.-only tech toys, Menke said.
Twenty kilometres to the east, along the busy highway between Winnipeg and North Dakota, there's more business at Pembina Parcel Services, which is open 12 hours a day, seven days a week. The company, located a stone's throw south of the 49th parallel, has a website that asks Canadians to "make us your U.S. shipping address."
There is also a digital wall at the border when it comes to some streaming video. Americans can watch a wide variety of hit TV shows such as 30 Rock or Saturday Night Live on sites like Hulu, but Canadians are locked out. When the site detects a Canadian IP address, it throws up a screen that says the company has not yet obtained international streaming rights.
Canucks determined to access such sites have used applications such as Hotspot Shield, which routes your connection through proxy servers in the United States to make it appear as though your computer is located south of the border. The connection is slowed down, you have to put up with a banner ad, and it is occasionally discovered and blocked by Hulu, but the end result is access to a bigger part of the Internet's global village.
Hawley is hopeful that licensing and other agreements will be worked out soon in order to bring the Kindle and other devices to Canada. But he is worried that Canada will always be a step or two behind countries with larger populations, forcing Canucks to continue to go undercover as Americans.
"Big electronics companies will have stuff released in the U.S. and the U.K. and the bigger markets before it comes to Canada," he said.
"It makes me feel like we're always behind."
