[bestbits] Fwd: [Chapter-delegates] From Berners=Lee, Lessig and van Schewick

[Nadira Alaraj]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dave Burstein <daveb at dslprime.com>
Date: Fri, Jul 15, 2016 at 6:44 AM
Subject: [Chapter-delegates] From Berners=Lee, Lessig and van Schewick
To: ISOC Chapter Delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>


Four Days to Save the Open Internet in Europe: An Open LetterW
<http://webfoundation.org/news/?au=26>eb Foundation · July 14, 2016

Web We Want

The post below is an open letter to European citizens, lawmakers and
regulators, from our founder and Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee,
Professor Barbara van Schewick, and Professor Larry Lessig. Join the
conversation in the comments below or on Twitter using #savetheinternet or
#netneutrality.

—

We have four days to save the open Internet in Europe

By Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Professor Lawrence Lessig, and Professor Barbara
van Schewick

Network neutrality for hundreds of millions of Europeans is within our
grasp. Securing this is essential to preserve the open Internet as a driver
for economic growth and social progress. But the public needs to tell
regulators now to strengthen safeguards, and not cave in to
telecommunications carriers’ manipulative tactics.

We are so close. In October, the European Parliament voted on network
neutrality rules for the European Union. Now regulators are writing
guidelines to determine how the law will be applied in practice. These
guidelines could secure net neutrality in Europe – if regulators use them
to close potential loopholes in the law.

Telecom companies know this. And so they are lobbying hard to get
regulators to adopt weak guidelines that would benefit their businesses
over the public interest. They have connections to the highest levels of EU
governments, a well-oiled lobbying machine, and lots of money to pay
lawyers and experts to write extensive comments. Their latest move came
last Wednesday, when the 17 largest telecom companies in Europe threatened
not to invest in the next generation of 5G mobile networks unless
regulators water down the guidelines.

We – the ordinary users of the Internet – don’t have expensive lobbyists.
But we have millions of people – everyday Europeans, startups, investors,
small businesses, activists, NGOs, bloggers, independent artists – who have
experienced the power of the open Internet first hand and want to protect
it.

That’s where you come in. For a few more days, until July 18, the public
has an opportunity to comment on the guidelines and convince regulators to
close loopholes and protect the open Internet in Europe.

The Internet has become the critical infrastructure of our time – for our
daily life, for our economy, for our democracy. Strong guidelines will
protect the future of competition, innovation, and creative expression in
Europe, enhancing Europe’s ability to lead in the digital economy. They
will ensure that every European, no matter the color of their skin or the
size of their wallets, has an equal chance to innovate, compete, speak,
organize, and connect online.

If we speak up now, we can convince regulators to do the right thing.

Here’s what you can do to help.

Speak Up:

Before July 18th, 14:00 CEST, visit www.savenetneutrality.eu or
www.savetheinternet.eu to participate in the public consultation by
submitting a comment in support of strong net neutrality rules.

Spread the Word:

Share this post and others on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else, using
#savetheinternet and/or #netneutrality.

Talk with your friends, colleagues, and family and ask them to take action.

If you are a blogger or journalist, write about what is going on.

If you are an entrepreneur or investor, review and sign the entrepreneurs’
letter.

If you have a blog or a website, protest Internet slow lanes by adding a
widget to your site.

There are four areas that regulators need to get right to secure meaningful
net neutrality in Europe.



BAN FAST LANES: Regulators need to close a loophole that could allow
carriers to offer special “fast lanes” to normal websites and applications
for a fee.

The telecom companies that connect us to the Internet want the power to
charge websites extra fees to reach people faster. In a world where some
websites can pay telcos to be in the “fast lane,” anyone who can’t afford
the extra fees – start-ups, small businesses, bloggers, artists, activists,
and everyday Europeans – will be left behind in the slow lane. Innovation
and economic growth will suffer, and Europeans will be left with an
Internet that is less vibrant, less diverse, and less useful.

Europe’s net neutrality law stops telecom carriers from creating fast lanes
online. But it contains an exception for “specialized services” that cannot
work on the regular Internet. Carriers want to squeeze as much of a
pay-to-play business model as they can into this exception, turning it into
a giant loophole. Their stated goal: A world in which any application can
buy a fast lane – not just those that could not function without it.

Regulators need to close this loophole by clarifying that the “specialized
services” exception cannot be used to create fast lanes for normal Internet
content. And they should regularly review what qualifies as a specialised
service – remember that in the not too distant past, everyday services like
web-based email or online video would have been seen as a specialized
service!



BAN ZERO-RATING: Regulators need to ban harmful forms of zero-rating.

Carriers want to be able to exempt certain favored applications from users’
monthly data caps, a practice called “zero-rating”.

Like fast lanes, zero-rating lets carriers pick winners and losers by
making certain apps more attractive than others. And like fast lanes,
zero-rating hurts users, innovation, competition, and creative expression.
In advanced economies like those in the European Union, there is no
argument for zero-rating as a potential onramp to the Internet for
first-time users.

The draft guidelines acknowledge that zero-rating can be harmful, but they
leave it to national regulators to evaluate zero-rating plans on a
case-by-case basis. Letting national regulators address zero-rating
case-by-case disadvantages Internet users, start-ups, and small businesses
that do not have the time or resources to defend themselves against
discriminatory zero-rating before 28 different regulators.

The guidelines need a comprehensive, Europe-wide ban on harmful forms of
zero-rating.



BAN DISCRIMINATION: Regulators need to prevent carriers from discriminating
among classes of traffic to manage their networks.

Carriers would like to define classes of traffic to be sped up or slowed
down, even in the absence of congestion. They say this will let them offer
better quality Internet access. But class-based traffic management lets
carriers discriminate against services at will. It allows carriers to
distort competition, stifle innovation, and hurt users and providers who
encrypt by putting all encrypted traffic in the slow lane.

The draft guidelines make clear that class-based traffic management can
only be used as a last resort during exceptional or temporary congestion if
less discriminatory methods cannot solve the problem. This is good, and
ensures that the Internet remains a level playing field even during times
of severe congestion.

But the guidelines are less clear for traffic management in the absence of
congestion. This ambiguity could be misused as a loophole to allow carriers
to discriminate in the name of addressing problems admittedly less severe
than congestion, where discrimination can only be used as a last resort.

The draft guidelines should clarify that class-based traffic management can
be used only if less discriminatory, application-agnostic methods cannot
solve the problem, regardless of whether there is congestion or not.



PROTECT INTERNET ACCESS: Regulators need to prohibit new “specialized”
services from taking over bandwidth that people bought to access the
Internet.

Carriers want to offer new kinds of “specialized” services that need
special handling not available on the Internet. People would buy these
services separately, in addition to their normal Internet access. Carriers
find these services attractive because they can charge the providers of
these services extra fees for special treatment.

The draft guidelines allow these specialized services to take away
bandwidth from people’s Internet connection. In essence, telecom companies
would take bandwidth that a customer bought to connect to the Internet and
use it for a specialized service that the same person (and, potentially,
the providers of these services) is paying for separately. That means
people signing up for a specialized service would pay twice for the same
bandwidth, and would have less bandwidth available for the websites and
Internet apps of their choice. This harms people signing up for a
specialized service, and makes it harder for Internet applications,
content, and services to reach consumers.

The current version of the guidelines directly contradicts the law, which
requires that specialized services be offered in addition to access to the
Internet and must not reduce the quality of normal Internet access.
Regulators need to correct the guidelines.

. . .

Telecom regulators can still protect net neutrality in Europe – if they
make the key changes described above. We urge regulators to make these
changes. And we urge you to contact those regulators before July 18th and
let them know the public supports strong network neutrality guidelines.

We have four days to save the open Internet in Europe. Let’s use them.

Take action before July 18th, 14:00 CEST here:

www.savenetneutrality.eu

www.savetheinternet.eu.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and founding director
of the World Wide Web Foundation

Professor Lawrence Lessig, author of “Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace”
and Professor of Law, Harvard University

Professor Barbara van Schewick, author of “Internet Architecture and
Innovation” and Professor of Law and (by courtesy) Electrical Engineering,
Stanford University


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