Internet co-regulation: Competition Commission role in BSkyB and other reg...

Internet co-regulation: Competition Commission role in BSkyB and other reg...: "The Murdochs have done the only sensible thing - take media pluralism out of the hands of their politicians, who had become liabilities due..."

Legislation or regulation without enforcement: wisest of monkeys?

In Barcelona keynoting Internet Politics 2011 (proceedings here), an excellent conference with wonderful translation. I find my self returning again and again to Michael Geist's work on the lack of enforcement by the CRTC: "The experience with net neutrality places the spotlight on the limits of guidelines without enforcement and screams out for enforcement transparency with full disclosure of all complaints and resolutions, penalties for violations, and audits of leading ISPs."

How to ignore net neutrality regulation? The Canadian experience

I bleat on about the need to impose transparent reporting requirements and conduct mystery-shopping type tests on ISPs simply because it is otherwise close to impossible to prove that net neutrality regulation has been breached - unless the CEO of the ISP shoots his mouth off on an investor call.
The net neutrality lite of the CRTC in Canada, announced with some fanfare in October 2009, appears to be gossamer thin. Congratulations to Prof. Michael Geist for unearthing and interpreting the documents - marvellous work.

British government and Internet regulation: what M...

Internet co-regulation: British government and Internet regulation: what M...: "For overseas readers, it's worth explaining the specific problems in the recent cause celebre - not about the incidents of voicemail hackin..."

EU roaming: only 900euros/GB next year!

The EC will lower EU data roaming charges to 900euros/GB from July 2012 (looking forward to seeing just how much competition will reduce that maximum). That is apparently a big intervention. I suspect that WhatsApp will not expect a lot of roaming use with that kind of charging...and don't use your phone for data in a foreign continent whatever you do!

30 June deadline: Transparency and neutrality - progress?

30 June was the deadline for big European ISPs to present their transparency plan to Commissioner Kroes for conforming to 2009/136/EC and 2009/140/EC via self-regulation.
In the UK, it was the deadline for the big mobile and fixed ISPs to explain their traffic management policies to consumers, based on their commitments in the Broadband Stakeholder Group's Code of Practice and the 'summit' with Ed Vaizey.
30 June was also the deadline for BEREC members to report on their traffic management issues in their own countries.
I do not know if these deadlines have been made, as there is no public reporting requirement and no media announcement. One company has at least appeared to be telling the truth. Progress? The audacity of hope....

FCC to actually publish neutrality rules; EC to try self-regulation

On Thursday, the FCC finally sent its December 2010 rules to the Office of Management and Budget, which sends them on to the Federal Register. So they'll be published in August/September (in time for TPRC) - and then challenged in court, sans doute. The main immediate requirement is for fixed (not wireless) companies to publish speeds and blocking/throttling policies, and hopefully this means BITAG will finally get to check its usefulness (it must have been lonely).
Meanwhile the European Commissioner awaits the self-regulatory Code that industry apparently agreed to in private talks in March. One hopes it's more effective than the UK example which continues to perplex Tim Berners Lee, given that it's not net neutrality, simply transparency.
In truth, both the Eurocrats and FCC are nudging ISPs to ensure self-regulation bites, by ensuring net neutrality lite. That goes only partway to dealing with the problem...I obviously would prefer they use co-regulation and keep everybody honest.