Berners-Lee Wants European Net Neutrality

Creator of the web Sir Tim Berners-Lee has called for full net neutrality in Europe, a few days before the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) makes its own decision on net neutrality in America.

Tim Berners-Lee claims “each ‘packet’ of data must be treated the same…no matter whether it is sent by a small NGO in Ljubljana or a FTSE 100 company in London.”

This is the same principal U.S. internet activists are fighting for, claiming regulation will stop telecom companies from adding fast-lanes or priority service to favoured services.

Tim Berners-Lee uses Dutch research into net neutrality to support his argument, “net neutrality stimulates a virtuous circle between more competition, lower prices, higher connectivity and greater innovation, benefiting all citizens, as well as internet companies large and small.”

It is not the first time Berners-Lee has fought against government and telecoms on the future of the internet, actively fighting against government internet bills SOPA, PIPA and ACTA previously.

Europe already has net neutrality controls, focused on providing the same service to every website or application, regardless of company size or connection to telecom provider.

However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has shown some interest in a fast-lane for telecom providers, claiming emergency services need priority over normal services.

Even though the premise sounds good, pro-net neutrality supports claim this will allow telecom companies to decide which service is deemed “emergency” and could allow broad commercialization of internet packets.

Internet companies have shown support to Berners-Lee’s plan for Europe and Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon already support full net neutrality across the globe.