CRISISBOOM

Background

Tim Berners Lee, often dubbed ‘the father of the Web’, ranks among the high-profile personalities to have publicly lobbied for regulation to mandate the neutrality of the Internet. However, others have argued that regulation is unnecessary and would threaten innovation.

At the heart of the issue is whether access to Internet services or content should be controlled and filtered rather than left free and provided according to the principle of ‘best effort’.

This principle implies that no provider can prioritise traffic on the Net for economic reasons. Instead, every user should be served with the providers’ ‘best effort’. This criterion has seen derogations in order to allow more professional use of the Internet. Therefore, a business user willing to pay more gets a faster and better connection.

However, extending this concept to many more users would run the risk of the majority getting such a poor service that it will prevent them from using the Internet. The borders between the two needs are currently being defined, and are subject to technological and regulatory developments.

The issue of net neutrality was first debated in the US a while ago, and is now generating intense debate in Brussels. It was also included in the EU’s review of telecoms rules (EurActiv 12/06/09).

While the US has long since passed legislation to ensure an open Internet, the EU has been struggling to catch up.

In a draft proposal seen by EurActiv, the European Commission does its homework on possible infringements of net neutrality but prefers to adopt a Read more…