Net Neutrality Debate Heats Up in the UK

Concern is growing in Europe that US decisions regarding net neutrality will affect Europe because of the high percentage of Internet content originating in the United States. Professor Nigel Shadbolt, President of the British Computer Society, has questioned the conventional thinking in the UK that the higher degree of competition among network providers in the Europe, as compared to the US, will ensure that market forces will not allow non-neutrality to become a problem. Such thinking is reflected by recent remarks of former UK Trade Minister Alun Michael who described neutrality as "an answer to problems we don't have, using a philosophy we don't share." Shadbolt, however, warns that the EU could find itself adversely affected if service tiering expands in the US, and so he argues that the UK should be involved in the debate. Some Democrats in the US are still hoping to enact net neutrality legislation in the near term despite the rejection of a net neutrality bill last year that was voted down largely along party lines, with the then-majority Republicans mostly opposed. Following last year's recapturing of the House and Senate by the Democrats, the same bill (known as the Snowe-Dorgan Bill) was reintroduced in January, 2007. The Bill would prevent network operators from blocking or degrading access to particular types of content and from preventing customers from connecting devices to the network. Prioritization of particular types of traffic, such as video, would be allowed only if it applies to all traffic of that type and does not involve the imposition of a fee. The Bill has received little support from the Democratic leadership and is opposed by the White House and the relevant federal agencies. Some observers do not expect much to happen unless and until a Democratic administration is in place in 2009. On a related front, the US Department of Justice has recently urged the Federal Communications Commission to reject calls to use its regulatory powers in aid of net neutrality. In Canada, there has been little comment on the issue by the Canadian government, although various groups continue to raise concerns. For example, Corus Entertainment has called on Industry Minister Jim Prentice to establish a task force to examine net neutrality, and the National Union of Public and General Employees has called on the government to ensure net neutrality. Concerns have been expressed by various commentators, including the Canadian Media Guild, that Rogers Communications Inc (Rogers) uses "bandwidth shaping" to slow file-sharing applications, possibly by slowing all encrypted Internet traffic. Rogers has denied this and, in any case, it is unclear whether such actions would be prevented by any bill that might address net neutrality. For related news, see: http://www.news.com/2100-1028_3-6208405.html; http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9779815-7.html; and http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/319629855570564.php For the position of the Canadian Media Guild, see: http://tinyurl.com/2527dy For the current view of the US Department of Justice, visit: http://www.freepress.net/docs/doj225767.pdf Summary by: Tom Feather