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Open internet reassurance from UK's Communication Minister
23 Nov 2010 | 11.18 Europe/London
Communications Minister, Ed Vaizey, has been busy clarifying points he made in a speech last week which appeared to abandon net neutrality.
In the address to a telecoms conference organised by the FT, Vaizey called for ISPs to have the ability to offer services designed for particularly market sectors through prioritising the delivery of some forms of content over others. So long as the ISP is open with its customers over which types of content are being prioritised, and from which providers, Vaizey believes services could evolve in to "a two sided market where consumers and content providers could choose to pay for differing levels of quality of service".
This passing mention got a speedy reaction from critics who were quick to pick up on the apparent abandoning of net neutrality. This stipulates that all content should be treated equally and not ‘shaped’ or ‘managed’ by an ISP for fear that the web will become split between those who can pay for faster access to content they deem valuable or ISPs favouring their own, or partners’, content.
On the flip side, many within the broadband industry point out that such traffic shaping, which is believed to already be taking place, can ensure that services which would suffer if they were not prioritised, such as internet telephony and IPTV, can be prioritised so conversations and programmes run smoothly, albeit it at a potentially small delay in web browsing or receiving emails.
The devil, of course, is in the detail and the ultimate issue is whether ISPs simply prioritise a type of traffic, for all providers, or instead ‘shape’ around their own services; do they prioritise all video content, or just their own?
Vaizey has spent the start of this week elaborating on last week’s speech, not so much extolling the virtues of net neutrality but rather an ‘open’ internet in which ISPs are ‘transparent’ about their traffic shaping policies which, he believes, everybody knows are almost certainly being implemented.
So, while it looks clear that the government would not prevent traffic shaping, Vaizey’s comments do appear to suggest ISPs will be asked to start declaring such policies so their customers, and prospects, can make more informed decisions.
In the address to a telecoms conference organised by the FT, Vaizey called for ISPs to have the ability to offer services designed for particularly market sectors through prioritising the delivery of some forms of content over others. So long as the ISP is open with its customers over which types of content are being prioritised, and from which providers, Vaizey believes services could evolve in to "a two sided market where consumers and content providers could choose to pay for differing levels of quality of service".
This passing mention got a speedy reaction from critics who were quick to pick up on the apparent abandoning of net neutrality. This stipulates that all content should be treated equally and not ‘shaped’ or ‘managed’ by an ISP for fear that the web will become split between those who can pay for faster access to content they deem valuable or ISPs favouring their own, or partners’, content.
On the flip side, many within the broadband industry point out that such traffic shaping, which is believed to already be taking place, can ensure that services which would suffer if they were not prioritised, such as internet telephony and IPTV, can be prioritised so conversations and programmes run smoothly, albeit it at a potentially small delay in web browsing or receiving emails.
The devil, of course, is in the detail and the ultimate issue is whether ISPs simply prioritise a type of traffic, for all providers, or instead ‘shape’ around their own services; do they prioritise all video content, or just their own?
Vaizey has spent the start of this week elaborating on last week’s speech, not so much extolling the virtues of net neutrality but rather an ‘open’ internet in which ISPs are ‘transparent’ about their traffic shaping policies which, he believes, everybody knows are almost certainly being implemented.
So, while it looks clear that the government would not prevent traffic shaping, Vaizey’s comments do appear to suggest ISPs will be asked to start declaring such policies so their customers, and prospects, can make more informed decisions.