Vivianne Redding is working to get the EU Telecoms Package through at any cost. This posturing is at best bureuacratic expediency, and at worst a smokescreen under which the bureaucrats are ignoring the wishes of EU Parliament by pushing through the EU telecoms package. The latter provides a legal framework for Telecom domination of our future connectivity. It achieves this by stating the paramouncy of voice services, with our data connectivity in legal terms, the unloved cinderella.
Comparisons with the FCC are posturing of the worst sort. I wish ICANN would insist that clear written support of the internet priciples were a requirement of any body before their representatives join the internet Governance process. Protecting neutrality through 'competition' EU style (actually UK) is like making love to a girl to save her virginity. We will discuss neutrality in the morning, promise!. Once the laws are in place and practice established the only recourse is through competition law, which is a 10 year 100m dollar process. The primary purpose of this 'competition' policy is to create affordable or entry level packages, packages which are not just limited in volume terms, but permit the knobbling of applications; all fine according to Ms Redding's laws as long as it itemised in the small print. Read poor kids buying £10 a month intro Broadband package with streaming disabled. But you can switch.. well in 12 months to 18months time or buy out your contract. But you have choice! Competition policy on its own drops just about everything to the lowest possible common denominator, and plays nicely into the hands of operators sustaining legacy services. Competition policy, without setting some ground rules on minimum data transport quality is very short sighted. She has championed user issues before, but she is putting the passage of the EU Telecoms package before everything, and we have no way to call this unelected official to account. Mike Kiely http://www.bbbritain.co.uk > > http://bit.ly/b1Y6A (Arstechnica) > > --Lauren-- > NNSquad Moderator
