EU Parliament adopts highly ambiguous Net Neutrality legislation

Unfortunately, MEPs have created large loopholes and left ambiguity in much of the legislation. Net neutrality is the principle whereby Internet access providers treat internet traffic equally. Because of the vagueness of the new regulations, telecoms regulators in EU Member States will now have to decide whether telecoms companies in their country will be able to prioritise different categories of data.

Jim Killock of UK digital rights organisation Open Rights Group said,

“MEPs have passed the buck on net neutrality. They have voted for an unclear and ambiguous piece of net neutrality legislation that fails to mention net neutrality. It is now up to national telecoms regulators to decide whether all our Internet traffic should be treated equally or whether rich companies will be able to outbid their smaller competitors for faster delivery of their services.”

The vote comes after two years of negotiations between the EU Parliament, Council, and Commission.