Ever since the Internet came to be, big time corporations were fighting everyone over it, subjecting it to their whims, rules, and policies. Talks about its neutrality are no new thing, and many believe that it should be an open platform. This war on net neutrality is slowly but surely reaching its climax.
The conversations, votes and all kinds of other attempts to do something about this issue have been tried for years now, and somehow, the situation hardly seems to change on the global basis. Are you interested in seeing what the rest of the world thinks of the issue? How did different countries approach it, and what’s there like now?
Chile Made The First Move, The Netherlands Followed
Chile was the first nation in the entire world to adopt the net neutrality nationwide, and this didn’t happen soon, but back in 2010. Back then, the US was just starting to think that net neutrality could be a thing, but in Chile, this already came to be an official policy. So how did this happen?
Well, it started when the lobbyists tried out a series of tests, and when the results came in, it turned out that one of their Internet operators, called VRT, had slower P2P forms of communication on purpose. This kind of activity was illegal in Chile already but after the lobbyists discovered that one of big, respected operators have broken the law, it only worked in their favor, and they managed to bring the new legislation.
A similar thing happened in the Netherlands and made it a second country ever to officially adopt net neutrality. In Netherlands, it was illegal to use DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) method, but that didn’t stop their KPN (the incumbent telco) from doing it and trying to monetize the WhatsApp users. This incident did not go well when the situation became public, and those in favor of net neutrality won the debate.
Where Does The Europe Stand
The EU appears to have a lot of problems when it comes to net neutrality, since the debate about it lasts for more than a decade, and there’s still no answer about what to do and how to do it. You might be wondering why they’re hesitating so much if the net neutrality is such a good thing?
The answer is simple – the ISPs power would become limited, and that might lead to a whole lot of other things that the EU won’t know how to deal with. While they want the business to thrive and economy to grow, the EU is just too afraid that the things would spin out of control if the true net neutrality was allowed, and so the debate remains ongoing.
Their Current Policy
The policy has shifted many times so far in Europe, and much was done in order to try and find the balance and make things decent in the eyes of both, ISPs and consumers alike. In the end, it was decided that ISPs must be reasonable with their demands, and with how they manage the networks, and also that the internet users’ interests must also be taken into consideration.
The Financier Worldwide has tried to explain it, and it said that the policy “advocates that an approach be taken which sit somewhere between a light-touch approach, at one extreme, to one which seeks to eliminate market power, promote consumer awareness, increase transparency, and to lower switching costs for end-users, at the other.”
Many have wondered if this is the right kind of approach, and most see the situation as slippery. So far, the problem is still here and doesn’t seem like it’ll be resolved anytime soon. It still remains to be seen where the issue will go from here.
Mexico’s regulations
Mexico has one of the strictest policies in the entire world when it comes to net neutrality, and it’s even decided that the Internet access is a human right. Many think that the rest of the world could learn a thing or two from this country when it comes to dealing with the issue of net neutrality.
The rules in Mexico seem pretty fair to both ISPs and consumers alike. The ISPs are not allowed to discriminate when it comes to a different kind of content. There’ll be no website blocking or slowed down traffic, but apart from things like that, they’re still allowed to manage their networks as their see fit. And, if any of the ISPs refuse to obey these rules, they’ll be fined, and some of the fines might even be up to three percent of their usual revenue.
The US Might Set Up An Example
Ever since the FCC’s 2010 vote failed to bring net neutrality to the US, it’s been thought that the slow progress of the issue around the world was directly affected by it. Of course, the situation in the US is not the only factor, but it certainly is one of them. Most of the world sees the US as the role model for what they themselves should do, and it’s believed that many of them would follow if the Americans decided to allow net neutrality in their country.
This could especially be the case when it comes to the situation in Europe, but in the rest of the world too. The newest situation and the decision brought by the Senate to roll back the privacy policy was seen as the step backward by many, but this has still happened. It’s not certain what the future holds, and what will happen next in the US, much less in the rest of the world.
What Lies Ahead
The issue of who should control the internet is a powerful and popular topic. The big corporations that benefit from net neutrality remaining a theoretical concept are trying their best to make the situation remain as it is, and currently, the US government is making them quite happy.
Now that the FCC’s rules were denied, people are waiting to see what kind of an impact will this have on the rest of the world. Will the countries with net neutrality rethink the decision? Will those without it ever try to do something about it, now that the US has the new policy? It remains to be seen.
All that can be said is that this debate is far from over, and even though the situation is as it is, a lot of things might yet happen, and we’ll just have to wait and see.
