A comparison between European and US approaches to net neutrality - Nkom

A comparison between European and US approaches to net neutrality - Nkom:

"there must be clear rules regarding which services that can be approved as specialised services. First, the traffic from such services must be isolated from the traffic on the Internet, and second, specialised services must not be provided at the expense of Internet access services.

 Regarding the former, the proposed European rules remain unclear, while the US rules say that “these services use some form of network management to isolate the capacity used by these services from that used by broadband Internet access services”.

Regarding the latter, the European rules say that sufficient capacity shall be available so that “the availability and quality of internet access services for other end-users are not impaired in a material manner”, a wording actually allowing degradation of the quality of the Internet access service!

Specialised services use built-in QoS mechanisms, and don’t need protection against Internet access services. It is the other way round, Internet access services need protection against specialised services!" 'via Blog this'

Shrill (i.e young) voices won't win India net neutrality debate: Trai chairman

Shrill voices won't win net neutrality debate: Trai chairman : Technology, News - India Today: "Khullar saying, "There has to be democratic debate. It's a debate that is waiting to happen. Shrill voices do not win debate. Cool headed reasoned arguments on both sides are need of the hour."

When asked India was in a position to align with the global net-neutrality principles, he said "There are different practices in different jurisdictions. UK and parts of Europe do not practice strict net-neutrality. Even in US zero rating plans are permissible."" 'via Blog this'

Regulating Code: EU Wants a New Regulator to Make Sure Internet Firms Behave

Regulating Code: EU Wants a New Regulator to Make Sure Internet Fir...: The EU Wants a New Regulator to Make Sure Internet Firms are Behaving Themselves | Gizmodo UK : "They warn that some digital businesses...

Dilma does not appear to care about #NetNeutrality in her summitry

Facebook to bring Internet.org to Brazil | ZDNet:

"The announcement of the scheme, which is part of Internet.org, the social network's not-profit digital inclusion initiative for low-income communities, took place after a meeting between Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Brazil president Dilma Rousseff at the 7th Summit of the Americas in Panama City on Friday.

The project will start by offering free fast Wi-fi at Heliópolis, São Paulo's largest slum and home to about 200,000 people. It is understood that the company's intention is to use the existing project as a blueprint to understand the challenges associated with a countrywide roll out." 'via Blog this'

Iran admits throttling Internet to ‘preserve calm’ during election

Iran admits throttling Internet to ‘preserve calm’ during election | The Iran Project: "“The reduction of the Internet speed, which some called ‘disturbances’, was the result of security measures taken to preserve calm in the country during the election period,” Nami was quoted as saying in a June 25 interview with the Tasnim news agency.

It’s not clear why the North Korean-educated Nami decided to publicly admit efforts to slow the Internet, a move widely seen as part of Tehran’s attempts to disrupt the free flow of information. Iran has a record of slowing down the Internet and increasing online censorship at sensitive times, but officials rarely acknowledge such efforts.

Nami said Iran’s efforts were aimed at preventing “foreigners trying to disrupt the election process” from crossing into the country’s cyberspace." 'via Blog this'

European law and network measurement: 2007/176/EC

L_2007086EN.01001101.xml:

"7.   Quality of service (QoS)

Technical interfaces and/or service features

User related QoS parameter definitions and measurements
ETSI EG 202 057 series
(parts 1 to 4)
 

Quality of telecom services;
ETSI EG 202 009 series
(parts 1 to 3)
Parameters relevant to the users
Performance parameter definitions for quality of speech and other voice band applications utilising IP networks
ITU-T Recommendation G.1020 (Including annex A)  

Under Articles 11 and 22 of the Universal Service Directive, national regulatory authorities may in specified circumstances require the use of certain standards and/or specifications for supply-time and quality-of-service parameters, definitions and measurement methods. These standards and/or specifications are listed in Annex III of the Directive.

7.1.   Grade of Service

Technical interfaces and/or service features
Reference
Notes
End-user multimedia QoS categories
ITU-T Recommendation G.1010 (11/01)
 

7.2.   Network performance objectives

The present List of Standards only includes standards and/or specifications relevant to IP based services.
Technical interfaces and/or service features

Network performance objectives for IP-based services
ITU-T Recommendation Y.1541 (including Appendix X and Amendments 1 and 2)
Some technologies may need special treatment on tolerances.

Quality of Service (QoS) concept and architecture
ETSI TS 123 107
(3GPP TS 23.107)
Mapping between ITU-T Recommendation Y.1541 and TS 123107 QoS Classes " 'via Blog this'

IEEE Paid prioritization and its impact - or how engineers' economic models solved nothing

IEEE Xplore Abstract - Paid prioritization and its impact on net neutrality: "we find that ISP's optimal pricing leads to an efficient differentiation among the CPs such that the social welfare is highly optimized" - but the paper says nothing about the effects on policy. So here are the real issues the paper admits it won't touch:

1. " "CPs’ total utility is reduced due to monetary transfer from CPs to ISP" - i.e. this is protectionist of the telcos and the social welfare gain is just rents to the monopoly that the engineers assume will then be reinvested. As Keynes states (via Krugman), in the long run we're all dead....

2. "optimal social welfare is achieved by sacrificing CPs with lower valuations and biased towards the ISP for profit distribution." ie. cable TV as a model excluding bloggers etc. Do they have a solution?

3. "from a fairness perspective, policy makers might want to regulate the price not to be too high so as to balance the social welfare and fairness among different parties" - yes, that's FRAND + universal service, with regulated monitoring.

So they achieve precisely nothing in policy terms, sadly. Their 4 lines on law demonstrate their almost complete lack of familiarity with the policy literature. 'via Blog this'

Mark Zuckerberg - I am a complete hypocrite on net neutrality

Mark Zuckerberg: "To give more people access to the internet, it is useful to offer some service for free. If someone can’t afford to pay for connectivity, it is always better to have some access than none at all...Arguments about net neutrality shouldn’t be used to prevent the most disadvantaged people in society from gaining access or to deprive people of opportunity."

He sounds as self-contradictory as any idiot politician? 'via Blog this'

Written question: Net neutrality, telemedicine and intelligent transportation - or what specialized services? E-004461/2015

Written question - Net neutrality, telemedicine and intelligent transportation systems - E-004461/2015: "In a debate of 5 March 2015, Commissioner Günther Oettinger referred to the demand for net neutrality as ‘Taliban-like’.

 Can the Commission specifically name the products (and their respective manufacturers) which currently exist in the European market and whose technical specifications rely on the absence of enforced net neutrality rules in the EU?

 Can it name specifically every single hospital in the EU and its specific telemedicine products and applications which rely on real-time broadband Internet connections, and whose technical specifications rely on the absence of enforced net neutrality rules in the EU?

 Can it name specifically every single intelligent transportation system — including, for example, car-mounted impact warning systems and vehicle and transportation security devices — whose performance relies on real-time Internet access and whose technical specifications rely on the absence of enforced net neutrality rules in the EU?" 'via Blog this'

We need better broadband but UK politicians can't deliver

We need better broadband but the politicians can't agree how to deliver it: "Commercial ISPs cannot be relied upon to connect rural areas, due to the high cost of laying infrastructure to supply only a few customers – a classic case of market failure, acknowledged by both parties. Labour’s claim that “all parts of the country” will “benefit from affordable, high-speed broadband by the end of the parliament” sounds – to put it kindly – optimistic. There’s no detail as to how this might be achieved in practice."

In fact, no broadband policy of note from either main party - it's the market failure stupid. They lack the vision thing - and net neutrality commitments. 'via Blog this'

Joint Statement for the 2015 EU-US Information Society Dialogue

Joint Statement for the 2015 EU-US Information Society Dialogue | Digital Agenda for Europe | European Commission: "The US delegation shared information about the recently adopted Open Internet Order by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), discussed key legal and policy challenges surrounding open Internet protections and how to ensure that the Internet remains open around the world. The EU discussed the recently introduced legislation on the Telecom Single Market that includes principles very similar to those that the FCC adopted.

The participants agreed that the underlying approach and intent in safeguarding the open Internet is the same in both cases, and agreed to enhance information sharing on open Internet related and other communications policy issues of mutual interest." 'via Blog this'

European Governments, Parliament Still Far Apart on Net Neutrality

European Governments, Parliament Still Far Apart on Net Neutrality - Real Time Brussels - WSJ: "In the European Parliament’s view, “specialized services” would not be subject to net neutrality rules. But defining what falls under these “specialized services” is tricky. “There are services that require higher speeds, but the question is to agree on them,” said one of the diplomats involved in the talks.

Others are worried that a multispeed internet will be a disadvantage for start-up enterprises.

“We need an open Internet to be able to challenge incumbents. The ability of start-ups to challenge big tech giants will be under threat if we allow for the creation of Internet fast lanes open only to those who can afford to buy access to them,” says Portugal’s EU affairs secretary, Bruno Macaes.

“I am not sure people understand how fundamental net neutrality is to a free, open society. All types of information need to be equally accessible. Imagine if some books were printed in normal font while others had to be read at great cost with a magnifying glass. If we have better quality for certain content on the Internet, that is more or less what we will have,” he added." 'via Blog this'

Net neutrality - 2011 analysis of Michael Geist's exposure of von Finckenstein's empty Canadian promise

Net neutrality highlights CRTC head's biggest failure - AlphaBeatic: "Anyone familiar with CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein knows it’s one of his favourite subjects. He’s been complaining about the CRTC having a lack of AMP teeth for at least three years and he sang a similar chorus during his time at the Competition Bureau before that.

This raises a few questions.

The first is, if the CRTC doesn’t have enforcement powers, why did von Finckenstein brag about Canada supposedly being a world leader in net neutrality? “Canada is the first country to develop and implement a comprehensive approach to internet traffic management practices,” he said in October, 2009. Given what is now known, it sure looks like the chairman wrote the proverbial cheque that the CRTC was not prepared to cash.

 More importantly, given that von Finckenstein has been beating the AMP drum for so long and the fact that the CRTC still doesn’t have this ability, significant doubts arise about the chairman’s personal effectiveness. Either von Finckenstein doesn’t have the clout to convince politicians to enable this power or telecom lobbyists have more clout in convincing them not to. Either way, the chairman has failed in getting the job done." 'via Blog this'

India and Brazil biggest zero-rating markets: Airtel flouting net neutrality

This graphic illustrates the Internet.org problem for the 200m Brazilians and 1.3billion Indians of whom over 200m already have an Internet-enabled zero-rated smartphone:

Critics warn Airtel for flouting net neutrality; startups, others can offer apps for free on platform - The Economic Times: "Some experts pointed to the lack of guidelines which allow formation of an increasing number of such partnerships. In February, Reliance Communications tied up with Facebook to launch Internet. org in India, which provided access to 33 websites free of charge. In another instance, Uninor offered free usage of WhatsApp for Rs 1 a day and Rs 0.5 per hour for Facebook last year, and followed up with free Wikipedia for three months beginning April 1.

This was another way of offering zerorating plans, promoting unbridled access to the Internet, said a senior executive.

Another top industry executive said, "All these offerings seem to be violating the principle of net neutrality, but in the absence of any laws, what is to stop them for forming such partnerships."

The debate on net neutrality is set to heat up as the telecom regulator has sought comments from industry on a consultation paper floated recently on net neutrality in the Indian context."  'via Blog this'

Seminár CGI/Proteste: Marco Civil da Internet - my speech at 1:09

Recent speech to CGI/proteste seminar in Sao Paolo - Brazil getting serious about #NetNeutrality? Not sure - certainly very shaky on zero-rating and specialized services so far! I will have to go back soon to examine more closely....

Boom Bust Boom: Terry Jones' evisceration of the economics academy

Because too many people believed the emperor's new clothes. As with the economy, so net neutrality...