EFF also does not like the congestion management prioritization language that allows ISPs to prioritize traffic based on specific categories of traffic.
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DreamWorksEurope just dealt a major blow to net neutrality.
Today’s vote concludes two years of negotiations between the EU Parliament, Council, and Commission.
Sounds good, right? Well, unfortunately, the new legislation also has a few gaping loopholes, which actually counteract its main intentions. A few tech companies, campaign groups and the inventor of the web Sir Tim Berners-Lee have asked for the adoption of the rules because they believe that it could safeguard the principles of net neutrality.
Lee warned that the “specialised services” could squeeze bandwidth for start-ups, small businesses, artists, activists, and educators, as they can’t pay extra for the service.
The adopted legislation allows the creation of internet fast lanes for “specialized services” and allows ISPs to offer so-called “zero-rating” products – i.e. apps and services that don’t count towards monthly data allowances. Thus, zero-rating has the same impact as technical discrimination: “it gives ISPs power to make certain applications more attractive than others and pick winners and losers on the Internet”.
To ban ISPs from determining classes of traffic and deciding which classes to throttle, or slow down, and which to prioritise. This behaviour discourages encryption, says Berners-Lee, as encrypted traffic is often bundled together in a single class and then throttled. The fourth issue centres on the ability of ISPs to prevent “impending” congestion, meaning they could slow down traffic whenever they wanted on the basis that congestion was about to happen.
Berners-Lee is not alone in asking MEPs to adopt these amendments.
Stanford Law Professor Barbara van Schewick, also Director of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society has gathered signature from nearly 50 tech giants, startups and investors and will be submitting it along with an open letter which will be sent to the European Union legislators today.
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The Open Internet Order rules “foster innovation, competition, and infrastructure deployment”, they said. The vote took place in the European Parliament this afternoon.
