Net neutrality law passed by the European Parliament

by Mark Tyson on 4 April 2014, 11:30

Tags: Netflix, European Commission

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The European Parliament has voted to stop ISPs from charging for preferential access to their networks as they pass the proposal on 'net neutrality', reports Phys.org. All internet traffic will be treated the same regardless of its source, if the law is now approved by Europe's Council of Ministers.

'Net neutrality' laws amend several loopholes which previously allowed ISPs to categorise web services of their choice as "specialised services" which they can treat differently. This is an effort to prevent ISPs from reserving the better part of their networks for their own services or pushing companies such as Google (YouTube) and Netflix to pay for preferential treatment on their networks. The new laws will also stop ISPs from blocking services on their network which compete with their own offerings such as communications apps like Microsoft's Skype and Facebook's WhatsApp.

The proposal was obviously largely opposed by operators as they claim that it will hold back their efforts to manage traffic. "Whilst we support an open internet, a set of misconceptions about our industry, together with a rushed legislative process and a lack of technical analysis, risk transforming the Connected Continent Regulation into an anti-innovation and anti-consumer choice legislation," said a joint statement from trade bodies representing ISPs. "The current draft legislative compromise in the European Parliament reflects very restrictive views on how the internet should work and on how specialised services with enhanced quality could be offered."

New laws in the package also include the elimination of roaming fees within Europe by 2016 as the EU aims to encourage big operators to invest more in networks whilst cultivating a single market for telecom services across the 28-country European Union, according to Reuters.

"This is what the EU is all about - getting rid of barriers to make life easier and less expensive. We should know what we are buying, we should not be ripped off, and we should have the opportunity to change our mind," said Neelie Kores, the European commissioner for digital affairs.

In the US, a net neutrality initiative was struck down by the FCC recently. Previously Netflix entered a deal to pay the country's biggest cable firm (Comcast) for preferential treatment on its network - so Netflix subscriber video streaming isn't hobbled.



HEXUS Forums :: 18 Comments

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So amazing when the EU actually does not only one thing right, but two!

Unbelieveable.
I'm sorry, what did you say the disadvantage was again?

I must of missed it through all that generic meaningless waffle.
hmm not sure on this - I can see the benefits in terms of removing commercial bias etc, but does this extend down to a consumer level i.e. removing traffic shaping?

Many ISPs traffic shape Bit Torrent/Usenet for example during peak times - for very good reasons. It would be a very, very bad move to remove their ability to do this imo, the internet is often slow enough at peak times, allowing people to go crazy on BT etc would just make it worse :(

Curious if it extends that far down or not really.
This is fantastic news - and contrary to what the industry spokesperson says this encourages innovation. If you let ISPs start charging for bandwidth then if someone comes up with a new idea for a video or music service that's goign to use a lot of bandwidth it's never going to get off the ground because they wouldn't have the money to pay for the necessary bandwidth.

Well done the EU. Don't say that every day…
This is fundamental and excellent news for all consumers!