Network neutrality could be a victim under an ITU Internet takeover

Network neutrality, the idea that an Internet service provider can’t discriminate against the traffic traveling over its network, is an enshrined legal right in some areas and a hotly contested regulatory fight in others. But according to a post over at TechDirt it may become moot if the International Telecommunications Union succeeds in its plans to dictate terms that will affect how traffic flows on the Internet.

Earlier this month some of the proposed rules associated with the UN’s plans surfaced on a blog and since then other leaks have given us a sense of what’s on the negotiating table at the UN. The one seeking to gut network neutrality is submitted by ETNO — the European Telecommunications Network Operators Association. Now, this proposal may never make it to the final ITU version of the rules and the ITU itself may never get the authority it wants in terms of being able to dictate how packets travel on the Internet, but it is worth understanding what regulators are considering in this fairly secret process. Glyn Moody at TechDirt has read those documents and clips the relevant segments to argue that these proposals would effectively make network neutrality illegal.