Net Neutrality: Is It Going to Be Ensured?

Posted by: raminta 9 years, 5 months ago

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On the 30th of June, European politicians agreed that, since June 15, 2017, roaming charges will not be applied in the EU any longer. In this way, for instance, Lithuanians will pay the same price for calls, SMS and mobile Internet both in Lithuania and abroad. Politicians have also promised that strict rules on Net neutrality will be adopted very soon, which together with the removal of roaming charges are incorporated in the Digital Single Market reform called "Connected Continent: Building a Telecoms Single Market".

Internet access: A human right?

Internet access is considered as a human right in several EU countries such as France, Estonia, Finland and Italy; therefore, good technical qualities of the Internet and an efficient supply of the service are essential to enforce this right. Good network quality and fast browsing depend mainly on the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and their honest willingness to satisfy consumers' interests. For this reason our comfortable life on the Internet and the freedom of expression are inseparable from the rules set by the ISPs.

What does "Net neutrality" mean?

Net neutrality means that the ISPs have to treat Internet traffic equally: they cannot discriminate or set different charges for users and content providers depending on the content and the amount of data they are exchanging, the websites they are visiting, the platforms or equipment they are using and so on. In other words, this principle does suggest that all data traffic on the Internet is ensured equally and that equivalent conditions are proposed to users, allowing them to reach all legal content on the Internet without favoring nor blocking any websites.

Currently the ISPs in Europe do not charge content providers (e.g. Spotify, Netflix, Amazon) for the transfer of their data in the "fast lane" and do not slow down the accessibility of their content. All data on the Internet (video records, TV channels, documents, etc.) are equally accessible: the ISPs are disengaged from the content sent and do not prioritise any data.

Now imagine this situation. Tom spends almost all his spare time on the Internet: he watches movies on Netflix, listens to the music on Spotify, plays games online, uses Youtube and watches Internet TV every evening. As one year has passed after the conclusion of his contract, he received an offer from his ISP: "Special and exceptional opportunity for Tom to use unlimited Internet access for only 30€ per month! If you do not accept this offer your Internet speed will be reduced significantly!". Tom has also received notifications from all ISPs claiming that he has to pay for the "fast lane" if he wants his personal website to be accessed faster by users. He feels confused because until now he has paid less for the Internet services and has not been obliged to pay for the accessibility of his website, even though he has noticed that it works slower.

This situation is an example showing how the ISPs could use their right to control the Internet traffic at ease and create obstacles to users and content providers. It contradicts the Net neutrality principle.

Unfortunately, such Internet model is favored by several ISPs, which would like to control information accessibility depending on how much users pay for the Internet services. These ISPs also want to get additional earnings by posing charges on the content providers and adding them to the "fast lane". In the meantime, those content providers which refuse to pay would be moved to the "slow lane", where a website would be opened very slowly - if at all. This kind of Internet would work like a cable TV, for which consumers have to pay depending on the channels they choose to watch.

Fight for Net neutrality in Europe

According to the European Commission "there are no clear rules on Net neutrality today at EU level, leaving 96% of Europeans without legal protection for their right to access the full open internet". In order to change such situation the European Commission adopted a legislative package named "Connected Continent: Building a Telecoms Single Market" aimed at building a connected, competitive continent and enabling sustainable digital jobs and industries.

This legislative package strengthens Internet users rights significantly:

• the ISPs will have to provide information on the average speeds they actually provide to their customers during normal and peak times, on data volume limitations, and on traffic management practices before the conclusion of a contract;
• no changes to the contract without an explicit agreement of a customer will be allowed;
• national regulators will monitor the quality of service and will be allowed to impose minimum quality requirements;
• consumers will have the possibility to terminate their contract if there is a significant and non-temporary discrepancy between what they were promised and the service they actually get.

The European Commission claims that the legislative package sets the strongest Net neutrality rules in the world as it forbids Internet blocking, throttling and paid prioritization. Nevertheless, the European Commission has left possibilities to limit the accessibility of the open Internet through some legislative exceptions: under certain circumstances the ISPs may agree deals with the content providers, which create "specialised and innovative Internet services" (e.g. Internet TVs), to assure a certain quality of service. This means that such content providers may be added to the "fast lane".

The ISPs are also allowed to apply the "zero-rating" practice, by which users can browse specific websites (e.g. Facebook, Delfi, etc.) for free; unfortunately, such practice limits users' willingness (and sometimes even possibility) to access other websites. Another worrying issue is a legislative exception allowing to block a website in order to prevent or to stop a crime: since the definition of "crime" is not well defined, it is unclear when blocking measures could be applied.

Such legislative exceptions raise doubts on whether the European Commission is really determined to ensure Net neutrality to the fullest extent. Currently, discussions on this matter among the EU institutions are still ongoing; it is expected that, before the end of this year, clear rules will be adopted to really protect the open Internet.

Net neutrality in the world

Back in 2010, Chile became the first country in the world to ensure Net neutrality and ban discrimination on the Internet. Such example has been followed by the Netherlands (the first country in Europe) in 2012.

In the meanwhile a long and tough fight for Net neutrality ended in the USA on the 12th of June when the new rules on the Open Internet took effect. These rules forbid the ISPs to ban legal content on the Internet, to slow down the browsing of specific websites and to charge the content providers. The rules recognised the Internet as a public good, which became protected by laws. As a result, the data flow on the Internet must be treated equally.

Once these rules took effect, one of the US ISPs appealed them to the court and asked for a suspension, but the US Federal Appeals Court has rejected the request before the case is closed. It is worth mentioning that such decisions of the US institutions were influenced by active campaigns of the Internet users and their participation in discussions. Maybe even Europe could find itself in a similar scenario if the Internet users fighting for Net neutrality could somehow influence European politicians, who are stuck in endless discussion, and as a result of negotiations all Internet fans could enjoy the end of roaming charges as well as the dawn of a stronger Net neutrality.

This article has been published in cooperation with the Human Rights Monitoring Institute, a Lithuanian NGO defending human rights.

Image courtesy of Joseph Gruber, Flickr.com.

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