[Advocacy Advisors] network neutrality draft regulation presented by EC

Thu Sep 12 13:19:07 UTC 2013

Hello everybody!

I just wanted to drop a line about the current network neutrality brouhaha.
[1] It reveals that the topic is controversial within the Commission and
even within the different Directorate-Generals. This is not necessarily bad
news, as it means that new arguments can very well make their way into the
discourse.

Yesterday and today the new draft regulation [2] was presented [3] and the
news for us is that we need to change the questions we were asking
ourselves. So far, we have been regarding this issue under the potential
risks for Wikipedia Zero [4], which will of course remain a major point.

The new draft allows content providers to sign contracts with internet
service providers to guarantee better access to services (e.g. higher
speeds, no traffic charges). Apart from this being everything BUT the
definition of network neutrality [5], this is important to us from the
following perspective:

Let's say Yahoo pays an ISP to have its services - including Yahoo Answers
- treated as „special services“, meaning they open faster or traffic to
them is not deducted from your 3GB/month plan. Would such a scenario have
negative consequences for our projects? Would these consequences be big
enough to argue in favour of actual network neutrality? Would this still be
the case even if it meant giving up Wikipedia Zero?

Just to remind you, we do not currently have any official position or
statements on this topic nor am I aware of plans to have such. These are
very hypothetical questions, but it is still important to know what is
going on, how it will affect us and what we would need to do if case be.

Cheers,

Dimi

[1]
http://www.iptegrity.com/index.php/telecoms-package/net-neutrality/903-reding-tackles-kroes-new-eu-telecoms-law-puts-free-speech-at-risk

[2]
http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2013/EN/1-2013-627-EN-F1-1.Pdf

[3] europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-779_en.htm

[4] http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2013-August/127715.html

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality>
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