[ NNSquad ] EU says no to Net Neutrality, would rather believe in Competition. Is Net Neutrality such a bad idea?

[Sivasubramanian M <isolatedn@gmail.com>]

Hello Lauren,

Neelie Kroes, the commissioner for the E.U.’s digital agenda, said in a speech in Brussels that European nations will NOT introduce net neutrality rules to prevent Internet network companies from blocking or prioritizing certain content. EU would instead rely on guidelines that would stop anticompetitive behavior by telecom and cable firms and protect consumers. 

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/11/eu_wont_adopt_net_neutrality_l.html?wpisrc=nl_techE.U

I posted this development as a question on LinkedIn and it has drawn some interesting responses:

http://www.linkedin.com/answers/government-non-profit/government-policy/GOV_GPO/752106-17150723?goback=.ahp

There are strong arguments in support of EU's decision, posted in response to the question publicly, and some in private. One observation in favour of this position by EU is that it is responding to extreme [usage patterns and] 'behaviours' among a class of Internet Users. Another comment is that Net Neutrality "would lead to massive hijacking of the available resource by certain content types which would harm the overall use of the net." 

But my concern is this:  This precedent of indiscriminately following telecom policy on content discrimination and user differentiation would eventually lead to a situation where Internet becomes far more commercialized in tune with the telecom / cable model, at which point Internet would cease to be what it is.

A comment on Washington Post is more interesting:  "If a carrier were to block Skype, a service Kroes said she uses to call family back home, consumers would protest." - the problem with this statement is what happens if traffic is blocked for a more marginal service that competes with Skype? Customers won't complain and the network operator gets away with it. Take that a step further, where you have a company like Skype, Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft who cut deals with providers or network carriers to "favor" their traffic over others. In a competitive broadband market, with several choices, competition may prevent such behavior. But most markets don't have competitive broadband. It's in these markets, where without net neutrality, people have to take what they get and get hosed in the process." 

Would the Net Neutrality proponents agree with any or part of the arguments in support of the EU postion?

Sivasubramanian M

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