The world has just heard of Net Neutrality and, unfortunately, it may die before it is born. At least that's what will happen if the world's major Internet service providers, mobile carriers and telcos have their way. What is it, why is it so important, and what does it have to do with what happened in Europe?
The European National Union Situation
Europe has traditionally been a far more liberal and consumer-centric environment than the U.S., and as the Net Neutrality debate has heated up in the U.S., Europe is beginning to take the stance that the market is doing fine without the regulatory authority represented by Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality is an effort in the U.S. to establish a regulatory authority over Internet service providers through the FCC to ensure that the government can offer and regulate fairness and equal access to all users; enter Europe to the battle...
European Providers Say "No Thanks"
European Service providers have begun to take the stance that Internet access regulation would only cripple growth, and this may be true. One example is a recent statement by Neelie Kroes, the commissioner for the digital agenda. She said, "This clearly creates a problem if consumers are not duly informed and do not have the possibility to easily switch to alternative providers..." She also states that, "I say to those people who are currently cut off from Skype: vote with your feet and leave your mobile provider." This represents a major policy shift, and essentially ends the Net Neutrality debate in Europe. As to the U.S., the recent passage of the Net Neutrality regulations have been stymied by a suit filed by Verizon claiming that the regulations are illegal-and the company did so after teaming with Google to determine what the regulations would be.
Why Is This Important?
On one end of the spectrum, you have the position that providers should be free to control their own networks without government control, period. At the other end of the spectrum, the position is that the government should regulate the service providers to ensure that all traffic is treated equally and that carriers are not allowed to restrict one type over another, at least not without making it clear upfront. In the middle ground, is the providers' opinions that they should have some control over network traffic, offering higher priority services for higher pricing, for example. The U.S. law allows for this, and exempts mobile carriers initially to allow them time to build out their wireless networks.
The importance of this issue can be illustrated by some statistics; the International Telecommunications Union estimates that a mobile network covers at least 90 percent of the human population so far. Further, by 2015, the ITU sees over 50 percent of the human population having some form of broadband Internet access, and smartphones and tablets alone may drive that growth even faster.
Google, which originally championed Net Neutrality, later allied with Verizon to modify the regulation allowing mobile carriers exemption from parts of the regulation. As soon as the regulation was passed, Verizon filed suit to kill the law. In just a few years, Internet access will be as important as food and education as a part of modern society. Should the companies that provide that access be allowed to rein free or should there be at least some form of regulation? Europe seems to think not.
The European National Union Situation
Europe has traditionally been a far more liberal and consumer-centric environment than the U.S., and as the Net Neutrality debate has heated up in the U.S., Europe is beginning to take the stance that the market is doing fine without the regulatory authority represented by Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality is an effort in the U.S. to establish a regulatory authority over Internet service providers through the FCC to ensure that the government can offer and regulate fairness and equal access to all users; enter Europe to the battle...
European Providers Say "No Thanks"
European Service providers have begun to take the stance that Internet access regulation would only cripple growth, and this may be true. One example is a recent statement by Neelie Kroes, the commissioner for the digital agenda. She said, "This clearly creates a problem if consumers are not duly informed and do not have the possibility to easily switch to alternative providers..." She also states that, "I say to those people who are currently cut off from Skype: vote with your feet and leave your mobile provider." This represents a major policy shift, and essentially ends the Net Neutrality debate in Europe. As to the U.S., the recent passage of the Net Neutrality regulations have been stymied by a suit filed by Verizon claiming that the regulations are illegal-and the company did so after teaming with Google to determine what the regulations would be.
Why Is This Important?
On one end of the spectrum, you have the position that providers should be free to control their own networks without government control, period. At the other end of the spectrum, the position is that the government should regulate the service providers to ensure that all traffic is treated equally and that carriers are not allowed to restrict one type over another, at least not without making it clear upfront. In the middle ground, is the providers' opinions that they should have some control over network traffic, offering higher priority services for higher pricing, for example. The U.S. law allows for this, and exempts mobile carriers initially to allow them time to build out their wireless networks.
The importance of this issue can be illustrated by some statistics; the International Telecommunications Union estimates that a mobile network covers at least 90 percent of the human population so far. Further, by 2015, the ITU sees over 50 percent of the human population having some form of broadband Internet access, and smartphones and tablets alone may drive that growth even faster.
Google, which originally championed Net Neutrality, later allied with Verizon to modify the regulation allowing mobile carriers exemption from parts of the regulation. As soon as the regulation was passed, Verizon filed suit to kill the law. In just a few years, Internet access will be as important as food and education as a part of modern society. Should the companies that provide that access be allowed to rein free or should there be at least some form of regulation? Europe seems to think not.
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