Commission urged to force transparency on network traffic shaping

The European Commission has been told that it should forcecompanies to define themselves either as neutral internet serviceproviders or as 'managed services' that give priority to contentproviders that they are in a business relationship with.

The Commission has published the findings of a consultation (6-page / 140KB PDF) on 'netneutrality', the principle that internet service providers (ISPs)should deliver all content equally to their subscribers.

The governments

Though the governments, companies, trade bodies and consumerassociations that responded did accept that ISPs had to engage insome 'traffic shaping' to ensure a fair division of resources tousers, some said that the Commission should force companies todeclare any business interests they had in prioritisingtraffic.

"Several respondents are concerned about new internet businessmodels causing net neutrality problems in the future, and haveasked the Commission to provide clarity on the distinction betweenthe 'best-efforts' internet and 'managed services'," said aCommission statement outlining its findings.

"There is consensus among respondents, even those that hadpreviously alluded to blocking of P2P [peer to peer] or VoIP [voiceover internet protocol] services, that traffic management is anecessary and essential part of the operation of an efficientinternet," said the report. "They agree that its use for thepurposes of addressing congestion and security issues is entirelylegitimate and not contrary to the principles of netneutrality."

"Operators and ISPs argue that they should be allowed todetermine their own business models and arrangements with othercommercial parties," said the report. "In contrast, others, inparticular content providers, argue that the distinction betweenmanaged services and the bestefforts internet is unclear atpresent."

"For this group, a level playing field is essential, in whichany managed services are offered to all content and applicationproviders on equal terms and without discrimination. [EU telcoregulators' committee] BEREC is concerned about potentialanticompetitive effects of such services and about theirlonger-term impact on the bestefforts internet," said therport.

Net neutrality has proved controversial in the US, whereopponents have said that internet subscribers deserve access to thefull internet, not just the parts belonging to companies that havepaid their ISP a fee.