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European Parliament Takes Tougher Stance to Defend Net Neutrality from ISPs

Posted: 20th Oct, 2011 By: MarkJ
european union flaguk network cableThe European Parliament's (EP) committee for Industry, Transport, Research and Energy (ITRE) has "unanimously adopted" a new amendment that seeks to nudge the European Commission (EC) into accepting a tougher stance on the protection of Net Neutrality (i.e. the principal of treating all internet traffic as equal).

At present Europe's official approach to Net Neutrality ('The open internet and net neutrality in Europe'), which we covered last November 2010 (here), merely recommends "preserving the open and neutral character of the internet". It also called upon broadband ISPs to adopt "industry-wide standards on transparency to enable consumers to make informed choices" (i.e. explaining service restrictions).

The UK government has since adopted an almost identical "wait and see" style approach (here), which references a lack of evidence to support the need for new regulation. Admittedly, given the prevalent and largely acceptable use of Traffic Management systems by most UK ISPs for load balancing (e.g. to prevent heavy users sucking up all the bandwidth), this remains a grey area.

Meanwhile consumer groups have continued to point towards existing examples, such as ISPs and mobile operators that deliberately block specific services (e.g. Skype, MSN, P2P, Video Streaming etc.). Other ISPs have also been known to restrict speeds to such an extent as to make certain legal services practically unusable.

ITRE's New Amendment 11

Welcomes the communication of the Commission and agrees with the analysis, in particular on the need of preserving the open and neutral character of the internet; calls on the European Commission to ensure that internet service providers do not block, interfere with, discriminate against, impair, or degrade the ability of any person to use a broadband service to access, use, send, post, receive, or offer any lawful content, application, or service made available via the Internet;

The new text is significantly stronger, although some critics had wanted it to include a call for immediate legislative action to protect Net Neutrality; others also argued for sanctions against ISPs who restrict access to the Internet.

The actual change also appears to be in keeping with at least some of the recent recommendations from the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (here).

Jérémie Zimmermann, of civil society group La Quadrature du Net, said:

"While rather weak, the adopted resolution is a political commitment from the European Parliament in favour of Net neutrality, and aims to prevent telecom operators from restricting Internet access. Pressure is increasing on Commissioner Neelie Kroes and the EU telecoms regulators to come up with further legislation. Mrs Kroes must break away from her 'wait and see' approach and take action to effectively protect competition, innovation as well as citizens' freedom of expression and privacy online."

Furthermore Zimmermann believes that mobile operators have been given a loophole in the updated consultation that "risks being interpreted as accepting such restrictions on mobile Internet on the pretext of congestion". Take away mobile operators and any evidence for new legislation would also be significantly weakened.

Crucially the biggest potential for harm, which could occur if ISPs started favouring content sources based on who pays them the most money, has yet to become a major issue. This is largely because content providers have chosen not to play ball and ISPs would run the risk of alienating users if they attempt to restrict access to popular content.

At this point it is important to remember that managing the flow of internet traffic is costly, complicated and ISPs do need flexibility to develop new models. For example, a successful IPTV solution would require complicated content deals (e.g. movie channels) that wouldn't impact your existing service but would need to be carried over the internet.

Neil Watson, Head of Service Operations at ISP Entanet UK, commented:

"Entanet advocates net neutrality and agrees that ISPs should be open and honest about their traffic management policies, enabling consumers to make an informed decision. We also agree that the market’s current policy of self regulation appears to be working and that legislation to protect net neutrality isn’t required, although we do suggest that this continues to be closely monitored."

After all this it would still come as a huge surprise if the EU suddenly changed their tune on Net Neutrality, with the new amendment reading more like a clarification than a course change. The UK market in particular remains highly competitive, with access to legal content and service still being broadly "open".

The new text will now move to be adopted in plenary - without the possibility of further amendments - in a vote scheduled for late-November 2011.
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