UK Chapter Event

Access to content in the Web 2.0 world: net neutrality and its relevance for the UK

Monday 17th May 2010

Hosted by Ofcom

2a Southwark Bridge Road
London  SE1 9HA

5.00p.m. for 5.30 p.m. start

What will the Internet look like in the future? A two-tier network with a toll system...? A network operating filtering and discrimination of content and services…? The debate rages both in the United States and Europe as one of the founding principles of the Internet is being challenged: Net Neutrality.

But what is Net Neutrality? And what are we talking about exactly?

Our speakers include

Richard Feasey, Public Policy Director at Vodafone
Staci Pies, Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs for the Americas at Skype
Nigel Hickson of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

will give us the (mobile) operator’s and Internet company’s perspectives, and draw from their experience at EU level and in the US.

Neutrality is commonly defined as carrying data over the Internet in a way that does not impact on how data is carried or the processing of the information they contain and the applications that allow their exchange. In short, those market actors providing access to the Internet should remain mere conduits, it is argued. That is to say, they should perform an agnostic function vis-à-vis the content, protocols, sender and receiver address.

But why should the explosion of audio and video and online services benefit only the Internet, media and publishing companies, at the expense of those who carry these flows and must spend considerable sums to upgrade infrastructure and increase network capacity accordingly? Shouldn’t those Internet and media companies contribute to the cost of network development?

Looking ahead at this evolving landscape, we are faced with difficult questions : should we or shouldn’t we allow access providers to favour certain data flows or services over others? If yes, which ones, why and how? If not, how do we ensure that the selection or prioritization of Internet traffic, which may be inevitable, is done in a way that does not adversely and/or arbitrarily affect particular users, or online services and content providers? The new EU regulatory framework for telecommunications includes some clauses on the question, and the new rules are designed to protect ‘net neutrality and net freedoms’ – but how will or should the UK implement those rules?

The problem in fact goes well beyond the commercial and financial interests of the Internet and mobile economy. At stake is the control of the Internet's future, of innovation and future applications generally, with wider social and economic implications. How do we reconcile the principle of neutrality and the necessary evolution of the Internet economy? This will be the question that the IIC event of 17th May will aim to answer.