MP Counters Government Stance On Net Neutrality

Ed Vaizey looks likely to face a political backlash over his proposal for a two-tier Internet in the UK, after Tom Watson, the Labour MP for West Bromwich East, tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) to debate the issue in Parliament.

Earlier this week, the culture minister suggested that ISPs could charge heavy bandwidth users such as Google and Skype for providing “fast lane” Internet access to their services. This, he said, would bring in additional revenue streams for ISPs and help pay for the expansion of online services.

However, the suggestion has prompted concerns within the industry about the impact that this would have on the ‘openness’ of the web, raising fundamental questions about the sanctity of net neutrality – the principal of treating all Internet traffic as equal.

Stifling innovation

In his EDM submission, Watson echoes these concerns, stating that “open Internet has delivered competition, innovation and unlimited access to new services,” and has “played a pivotal role in enhancing democratic participation and freedom of expression”.

He goes on to say that abandoning the principle of net neutrality would “stifle online innovation and lead to websites paying Internet service providers to ensure their content gets priority”. He dismisses the notion that mere transparency will protect customers and citizens from harm, warning that ISPs may “seek to restrict customers’ Internet access for market advantage through minimum service guarantees”.

Watson’s motion has been backed by Tory MP Peter Bottomley and Liberal Democrat MPs Julian Huppert and Simon Wright. However, EDMs are rarely debated and it seems unlikely that this one will reach the House of Commons – particularly as Vaizey’s proposal has received some high-profile backing.

In an open letter published in the Financial Times newspaper today, Martin Cave, academic director of the Centre on Regulation in Europe, said that Vaizey was right to discard the concept of net neutrality.

“He has correctly assessed that, if consumers are to experience the fastest, most efficient Internet speeds, Internet service providers must be able to manage the traffic across their networks in a sensible way,” he wrote. “Our view is that the ISPs are still experiencing significant traffic imbalances and congestion on their networks because of a growth in capacity requirements from users. The management of the information flow over the network is a necessity for it to function efficiently at all.

“Any net neutrality rules would clog up the existing networks and act as a disincentive to the large-scale investment required by the operators for a faster, more globally competitive internet infrastructure,” he added.

Debate heating up

Both Ofcom and the European Commission ran consultations on the issue of net neutrality over the summer, agreeing on the need for a lightly regulated Internet. “To let competition work, consumers need to be effectively informed about traffic management practices and to be able to easily switch to alternative operators if they are not satisfied, said vice-president for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes.

Meanwhile, Google has warned that abandoning net neutrality will inhibit innovation and the BBC is working on software for its iPlayer service that will show if an ISP is throttling bandwidth.