Network neutrality proposals cause friction in the European Commission, leaks show

It’s not only in the US that network neutrality is under threat. In Europe, too, Internet service providers may soon be expressly permitted to charge content providers for carrying their traffic – but, as it turns out, this is causing divisions within Europe’s executive body.

The European Commission’s digital agenda chief, Neelie Kroes, said in June that she would propose the EU’s first network neutrality legislation, as part of a wider package of laws to promote a single telecoms market in Europe. On the plus side, she said the blocking or throttling of services on competitive grounds – a mobile network provider blocking Skype because it steals voice customers, for example – would be outlawed. However, she also said ISPs would also be allowed to offer end users connections that come with a guaranteed quality of service. And what also came out in subsequent leaked drafts of the new legislation was that ISPs will be – you guessed it – allowed to charge content providers to carry their traffic “with a defined quality of service or dedicated capacity so long as the provision of such specialized services does not substantially impair the quality of internet services.”