Net neutrality: In its first blow, EU vote undermines freedom of internet

In the US, at peak times, Netflix is said to account for one-third of internet traffic. Rich content such as premium video and movies are bandwidth intensive and tend to clog data networks. As a result, telecom and internet service providers have for long tried to monetise the use of internet bandwidth based on services such as Facebook, WhatsApp or Netflix. This gave rise to the fight for Net Neutrality, or calling for equal priority to all data packets travelling through the network. Yesterday, the European Union voted against crucial net neutrality amendments. These amendments were set to safeguard user rights by having a set of clauses including the right to ban zero tariff services such as internet.org by Facebook. In a statement prior to the vote, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and founding director of the Web Foundation said, “The current proposal allows ISPs to create fast lanes for companies that pay to have their content load faster by calling them ‘specialized services’.” Berners-Lee added that the current proposal would permit ISPs to exempt applications from users’ monthly data cap and even slow down traffic, which could threaten innovation, free speech and privacy. In his criticism of the move, he said, the move could compromise Europe’s ability to lead in the digital economy. Anne Jellema, CEO of the Web Foundation added that Europe had taken a giant step away from its vision of becoming a world leader in the digital economy. She said “these weak and unclear net neutrality regulations threaten innovation and free speech.” Linking the freedom of the internet to the success of start-ups she adds, “Now, European start-ups may have to compete on an uneven playing field against industry titans, while small civil society groups risk having their voices overwhelmed by well-funded giants.” Closer home, the fight against net neutrality in India has been active for the past months. Earlier this year, Airtel had created quite a stir with its new **Zero marketing platform** that allowed users to access apps of participating app developers at zero data charges. It had even defended its pricing scheme and had found support from partners such as Flipkart’s Sachin Bansal. In protest, several net neutrality supporters took to downvote the Flipkart app  thereby forcing Bansal to go back on his stand on Airtel Zero. After months of consultations, a panel appointed by the Department of Telecom made its report public safeguarding the key clauses for net neutrality .