Today, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) published its guidelines on net neutrality.
This is a victory for civil society, whose relentless involvement secured the principles of a free and open internet in Europe. By demanding strong net neutrality in record numbers, Europeans managed to overcome massive lobbying by the telecom industry and narrowly avert a catastrophe for the internet.
It has to be noted with regret that it was not our digital Commissioner Günther Oettinger who listened to the people and defended an internet not biased towards big corporate interests, but the regulator body BEREC. The precise interpretation of the rules BEREC presented today defuses most of the risks left in the legislation by the other EU institutions. One issue we will need to stay vigilant of is the anti-competitive practice of zero-rating, where decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Today is a day for celebration, and a day to express our thanks to the campaigners who helped achieve this victory. Nevertheless, I fear this won’t be the last time the people have had to rise up to ‘save the internet’ from unscrupulous business interests and politicians who do not grasp the consequences of their proposals to regulate the internet.
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I’m sad to to say that today is not a day of celebration, but the day when ISPs won the battle.
If you look at the fine print of the document you will see and exception (named “c” ) that ruins the whole law:
“c” says that rule can by bypassed to “prevent impending network congestion and mitigate the effects of exceptional or temporary network congestion, provided that equivalent categories of traffic are treated equally.”
Meaning that ISPs can throttle specific categories of traffic at their own will. And we know how ISPs will act right?
This is great news. As a British citizen, I have always been worried about net neutrality in Europe. I just wish we had more technologically-minded and progressive parties in the UK, especially with the impending mess of leaving the EU.
I am now going to keep up to speed with the Pirate Party’s ongoing work.
I want to thank you for all your hard work.
I’ve been less than optimistic lately, so this is great news to me! Hang in there and thank you for taking the long battle for us!