IT and Society: Net neutrality code comes into focus

The founder of the World Wide Web Tim Berners-Lee calls governments of major countries to discuss and later implement a concept of net neutrality. The expert says that in order to create a universal model of independent Internet it is urgent to attract Ministries of Culture of different countries, business executives and telecommunication companies.

He points out that in Europe and the USA many companies have already supported net neutrality concept, however to prove useful this concept needs to become global.

He highlights that the web has grown so fast precisely because there are two independent markets – one for connectivity, and the other for content and applications.

At the same time, Internet traffic has recently become so high, that major companies made up their minds to give priorities to particular traffic types, what results into conflicts, when operators start blocking competitive services. Under the pressure of regulators from the USA and Europe companies from these countries were forced to give up this practice however new attempts to break the net neutrality happen regularly.

The expert is convinced that global operators and legislators need to agree on three simple principles. They are full access to legal content for all users, no discrimination against content providers on the basis of commercial rivalry, and clarity and transparency regarding traffic management policies.

Berners-Lee says that all three measures have been currently being implemented just in few countries, however they guarantee the progress of the Web.