Vodafone calls for Internet rules

Vodafone has insisted that Internet companies should have to comply with national laws on privacy and consumer protection and rejected calls by Facebook, Google and other technology companies for a light-touch approach to policing the web.

Vittorio Colao, Vodafone’s chief executive, has in effect sided with Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, by saying Internet companies need to comply with national rules that telecoms operators abide by. Colao supports Mr Sarkozy’s call for tougher policing of the Internet after highlighting regular media reports about web threats to consumer rights. “So Sarkozy is really right to argue that realizing the full potential of the Internet will also require an effective legal framework and that self-regulation will not be enough,” he says. Colao acknowledges the challenge of policing the web because Internet companies operate in cyberspace and, unlike telecoms operators, may not be licensed in particular countries. But he highlights how new UK legislation could enable regulators to order operators to block customers from visiting websites that supply pirated music and video. He suggests such an approach could be extended to other areas, so that regulators could order operators to block access to websites accused of breaching national privacy or consumer protection rules. Colao also highlights how operators abide by national rules on consumer and data protection and national security, and bear the associated compliance costs. He contends that Internet companies should be subject to the same rules and costs. Colao risks fuelling existing tension between European telecoms operators and US tech companies that have warned against heavy policing of the web.