Kroes Voices Strong Support for Net Neutrality, Online Rights Protection
Neelie Kroes, the EU’s digital agenda commissioner- designate, promised to protect net neutrality and online human rights. Responding Thursday to lawmakers’ questions at a three-hour confirmation hearing in the European Parliament, Kroes said an open and neutral Internet is crucial to promoting competition. Service providers shouldn’t be allowed to restrict access for commercial reasons, she said. She also promised not to let the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement sidestep citizens’ fundamental rights. Kroes’ comments showed a full understanding of net neutrality issues, a digital-rights activist said.
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Kroes, currently the competition commissioner, said Europe has had many successes in information and communication technology, but “we can do better.” Europe must make a stronger commitment to research and innovation, Kroes said. Its research and development budget is dwarfed by Google’s annual R&D spending, she said. Europeans need high-speed broadband networks and more-efficient spectrum management to allow the rollout of new services, she said. ICT must be secure and trusted to encourage uptake by individuals and businesses. Citizens and organizations need access and the skills required to take advantage of ICT, she said.
The digital society depends on open standards and interoperability, and public bodies should “practice what they promote” by making maps, weather data, health advice and other information interoperable, she said. Kroes bemoaned the “uneven patchwork” of Europe’s online single market, calling it a straitjacket that frustrates consumers and annoys businesses.
Net neutrality was on several legislators’ minds. One asked whether a European Commission review of the issue had come up with anything, saying the definition of net neutrality in the draft document is rumored to be confusing. Kroes said she defines the concept as not allowing service providers to limit users’ access for “commercially motivated” reasons. That’s a “no-go,” she said. Net neutrality should apply to all new communications networks, she said.
The document is a “mess,” said European Digital Rights Advocacy Coordinator Joe McNamee, who said he has seen a leaked copy. It discusses net neutrality in relation to the economy, security and technology and has a section on ISPs backtracking on advertised speeds, he said. Kroes’ clear response may have killed the current text, he said. Her answer showed “she fully understands the issue,” McNamee said. “This is a very positive statement for European citizens and innovators,” he said.
Some lawmakers worried that ACTA might circumvent online fundamental rights. Kroes said the goal of the negotiations is to develop an international enforcement framework against counterfeit and pirated goods, and those involved want to deal with the Internet’s growing importance to intellectual property rights.
No text has been agreed on, Kroes said. The EC will ensure that all rights granted to European citizens are safeguarded and that there’s no “harmonization by the back door,” she said. “They have to move to our side and that’s it,” Kroes said. ACTA talks won’t lead to changes in the e- commerce directive affecting ISP “mere conduit” protection from liability, she told reporters later.
Parliament’s close questioning on net neutrality was encouraging, as was Kroes’ unequivocal statement against commercially motivated restrictions, said a spokesman for French public-interest group La Quadrature du Net. The central question, however, is whether the EC will push to impose the fundamental principle on fixed and mobile Internet access providers, he said. The commission avoided creating a loophole in net neutrality regulation, by strictly defining acceptable network management practices aimed at addressing security threats, the spokesman said. The public interest must remain the priority, he said.
Kroes was asked whether she supports the European digital library. She said she’s challenged by the fact that Google is active in the field, and she urged lawmakers to remember that the company is digitizing English-language content. If Europeans want to keep their languages and cultures, they must get involved with Europeana or be bypassed by Google, she said.
Kroes also said she might consider levies on Internet subscriptions to pay artists. “I'm hesitating,” she said, because the levies must be carefully defined. But no solution that balances paying creators with avoiding harm to the Internet should be excluded, she said.
If appointed to the EC, Kroes said, she'll unveil her digital agenda initiative within the first six months for finalizing in the summer. Other items on her to-do list include: (1) A recommendation on regulation of access to next-generation access networks. (2) Setting up the new telecommunications regulatory body, BEREC. (3) A review of content licensing provisions for orphan and out-of-print works and establishment of sustainable funding for Europeana. (4) Completing the net neutrality report by the end of the year. Parliament votes Jan. 26 on the entire EC.