Ofcom Net Neutrality Condoc Published
25 June 2010
Ofcom has joined The US regulator the FCC, Arcep in France and the European Commission among others around the world in leading a public consultation about 'Net Neutrality'. For the uninitiated the term tries to capture the range of issues that arise when network operators -including ISPs and Mobile operators for example - try to shape, restrict or in some way manage the content that flows over the network. I won't go into the detail - the consultation documents do that very well, but it is heartening that the document does appear to be sensitive to many of the consumer and citizen issues that arise. Whether adverse impacts on consumers need to be addressed will of course depend on whether we can assume that consumers themselves have the tools and ability to understand traffic management, and its potentially large impact on their access to services. As the document, in common with the other regulators' recent statements, recognises, these could become important issues for consumers and citizens, in addition to any adverse impact they may have on competition between operators.
The extent to which regulators have a legal basis to intervene in these matters has been controversial both sides of the pond, but in Europe the new EC framework does provide some tools for Ofcom to use, for example in providing guarantees that consumers should have a certain level of quality of service, or that there should be transparency requirements to ensure that every consumer has the information needed to choose between rival network providers. Whether these powers will be used, as the document is at pains to describe, is a matter for government and legislators.
Will the debate get beyond a narrow clique and demand the attention of a broader public, thus making Government action likely? not on the current evidence: There are almost no complaints about traffic shaping. This may mean we should all relax about the issues, but equally this could simply mean that they are fiendishly complex and ill-understood by consumers, who therefore need protecting. Either way, we can expect this bundle of issues to preoccupy more people - and generate more complaints - as people become more aware of the issues. (Paradoxically perhaps, since awareness is part of the solution). During the summer a separate EC consultation is expected and the issue will gradually come to a wider public.
Prediction: if consumers' enjoyment of football is impacted by traffic management, we can expect a much more vigourous debate. But we are a way off that yet, and those of us dragged away from television coverage of World Cup 2010 to read this stuff will remain a very small minority.