European Parliament passes full net neutrality

Two years ago, The Netherlands was the first European country to codify full net neutrality, and at the time, I expressed the hope that it would serve as a template for EU-wide net neutrality. Well, good news everyone: the European Parliament just accepted full net neutrality, essentially a copy/paste from the Dutch law.

We did get lucky, though – the original proposal included an exception for undefined “special services”, a potentially massive loophole for ISPs. Thanks to Dutch European parliament member Marietje Schaake, the special services exemption was dropped, so that strong net neutrality has now been codified EU-wide – at least by the EP.

In addition, today’s set of new legislation also includes an end to roaming charges within the EU, which is great news for the travelers among us. All in all, a good day for the web.

8 Comments

  1. 2014-04-03 2:28 pm
  2. 2014-04-03 2:42 pm
  3. 2014-04-03 2:42 pm
    • 2014-04-03 3:24 pm
    • 2014-04-03 7:24 pm
      • 2014-04-04 1:16 pm
  4. 2014-04-03 4:14 pm
  5. 2014-04-05 3:19 am