Net neutrality

Net neutrality refers to the value-neutral data transfer on the Internet. Network Neutral Internet service provider ( english internet service provider) to transport all data packets unchanged and in the same quality of and to their customers, regardless of where they originate, to which destination to send it, what is the content of the packets and the application that generated the packets. The network is responsible sovereignty, as well as their legal basis of national sovereignty. Accordingly, all service providers are bound by the foregoing legal principles.

Disambiguation

Firstly, a network is required with competition in which net neutrality is that the content of the communication is not observed that sender or receiver are not treated differently when they book the same performance. No distinction is made between TCP and UDP data and not between phone calls, and file sharing, if the customer sends it over the same line with a grade chosen by himself. Companies are thus prevented from distorting measures that would promote the formation of monopolies. In addition, the encryption of private data is possible by such net neutrality because their transmission is not disadvantaged. Without such net neutrality providers could view encrypted data as less beförderungsdringlich. The ISP would then indeed do not differentiate by content or sender and receiver, in case of traffic congestion on the Internet but on the booked service class.

Secondly, an egalitarian network is required, are not allowed in the different service classes. This means that the customer has no way of transfers a certain QoS (Quality of Service, short QoS) to get assured. In this case, the ISP does not distinguish according to content, sender and receiver still on the booked service quality. In this form of net neutrality is not an avoidance of distortion of competition in the foreground, but a redistribution of services, reserves the established Internet companies to Internet start-ups. In this form of net neutrality would not be able to book established Internet companies other grades as Internet startups, and both companies could meet on equal footing.

Positions

There are two basic ways in which Internet service providers can manage the transport of large amounts of data on the Internet: Either they increase the capacity of their networks and transport all data equally (best -effort ) - then these networks remain "neutral". Or they transport different data at different rates and in different quality. Measure of this quality are mainly data rate ( in everyday use often called bandwidth), delay (english delay), variance and packet loss.

Many telecom operators reject the neutral data transfer and want to transfer to their networks, data of varying quality. They argue that network management is a more efficient way to prevent traffic congestion and to important data to be transmitted with a guaranteed transmission quality. They also point out that different data have different transportation needs: In a telephone conversation over the Internet is a slight delay is more important than downloading a video film, but when the video data rate is more important. At the same time large investments in network expansion are necessary by further increasing bandwidth demand, which is why new pricing models for customers or fees from vendors should be considered.

In contrast, support both providers offered via the Internet content, services and applications as well as consumer organizations and artists to net neutrality. They argue that the chance of innovations offered over the Internet content, services and applications had been therefore been so great because all the customers connected to the Internet could develop such innovations. It was enough to offer this innovation to a reachable via the Internet computer (server). The remaining connected to the Internet people it was left to select the desired from a range of innovations ( innovation without permission ). The providers fear that not just the customers desire innovations will succeed if the telecom operators can decide which services reach the customers connected to the Internet in good quality. In addition, they point out that the operators may be tempted of telecommunications networks to transmit third-party content, services and applications intentionally bad so their customers instead use the content, services and applications of their own operator of telecommunications networks.

In addition, emphasize Internet pioneers such as Tim Berners -Lee the particular importance of free speech on the Internet and neutrality as a technical expression of independence from the censorship attempts of governments.

Violation of net neutrality

• Operators may require service providers for access to their clients' money. It technically would be possible to access exclusive, ie to provide only one service provider. The network operator access rights could thereby auction to the highest bidder service provider.
• New technologies enable network operators, products with which they are present in the service market, to market advantages. A network operator who wishes to operate, for example, an Internet telephony service, might be tempted to keep other providers of Internet telephony from its customers or discriminate with respect to transmission quality. T -Mobile, for example, prevents the use of Skype on the iPhone, giving the reasons, among others, with a possibly high network utilization.
• Also to protect older own products, are often limited new. To lead or led almost all German mobile operator contracts in which VoIP and / or instant messaging is prohibited, as they are in direct competition with telephony and SMS.
• In France, Bouygues ("Internet Illimité " ) the use of certain services (such as Virtual Private Networks ( VPN), IMAP e-mail services and any datagram (UDP) services) and locked refer to "illicit recreational use ." Similarly, compounds which transferred data volume exceeding 10 MB will be automatically disconnected.
• Some Internet providers go about to throttle file-sharing on their networks or to stop completely. In the simplest case, the communication is restricted or blocked on a specific port, advanced techniques examine the transmitted data stream and interrupt the connection selectively. In this way it is attempted to reduce the typically large amounts of data by sharing transmitted and thus to reduce the cost. For example, limited cable Germany the use of file sharing. This is also held by customers who have not signed it with their terms and conditions.
• The award of separate IP address groups by country allows content providers to exclude certain countries as a whole by their own offerings.
• German UMTS Internet service providers access to proxies and Deep Packet Inspection in the application layer traffic of their customers.

Political discussion

A public discourse on net neutrality is known from the European Union and the United States. With bills net neutrality is to be anchored. So far, all bills have been rejected in the U.S., which should anchor the network neutral data transmission.

The EU Commission considers that there is sufficient competition among the network operators will ensure net neutrality largely. She wants to strengthen competition by the network operators are obliged to inform their clients about the quality of Internet access offered. When changes of this quality information, customers can terminate their contract. If necessary, national regulatory authorities may require a minimum quality for Internet access. If this is not sufficient, the national regulators can require network operators based on the amended in November 2009 Framework Directive on net neutrality.

Germany

In Germany, net neutrality law does not explicitly and firmly prescribed, the term is not clearly defined. However, in § 41a " net neutrality " of the Telecommunications Act ( the Act) empowers the Federal Government to enact an ordinance that sets the principles of non-discriminatory data transmission and access to content and applications. This is to prevent a network operator or a service deteriorated arbitrarily impede the traffic unjustified or slowed down. Furthermore, the Federal Network Agency to enable to define the minimum requirements for the quality of service.

The paragraph was inserted largely unnoticed by the Law on Telecommunications Amendment regulations. In the original version of the amending law he did not exist and was only inserted by the treatment in the Committee on Economics and Technology. The Amendment Act was decided initially on 27 October 2011 in the Bundestag, after modifications requested by the Federal Council and protracted negotiations in the Conciliation Committee, it was finally decided in a further amended on 9 February 2012 at noon without debate by a sparsely occupied Bundestag plenary and entered with promulgation in the Federal Law Gazette on 10 May 2012. The media coverage had mostly dealt with the revision of costs for telephone queues hotlines, which was also made ​​by the Amendment Act.

Neither the federal government nor the Federal Network Agency steps were then known, to adopt the proposed ordinance or Technical Directive. However, the Agency examined with a measurement campaign the current state of net neutrality and asks since March 22, 2013 also to the help of internet users by the use of a Java software on a website. A similar approach for the study of the speed of broadband connections had surrendered on April 11, 2013, that the information provided by the network operator back often lay behind the values ​​actually achieved.

Economy Minister Philipp Rösler was mid- June 2013 in response to the plans of Deutsche Telekom to make a throttling of connections from a given volume of data, their own services and the services of contractors doing but exclude known that he wanted to bring in a regulation to the Federal Cabinet, the to ensure net neutrality in Germany. Under that regulation, Internet access provider data to guide regardless of their origin through their networks.

Previously was made due to the throttling Telekom plans to the Bundestag in April 2013, a petition for commitment of ISPs on net neutrality, which called for a legal foundation of net neutrality. Within four days, joined more than 50,000 supporters of the claim, she found a total of 76 530 supporters. Due to this, the Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag on 24 June 2013, addressed the issue at a public meeting. In this, both the opposition and the government had agreed to try to ensure net neutrality. Key questions were whether this should be clarified in a law or regulation as well as to whether the draft of the BMWi is a regulation formulated too vague and could prevent violations of net neutrality, as in the case of Telecom. The Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology published a short time later a " draft net neutrality regulation in accordance with § 41a para 1 TKG " in which the criticisms should be accommodated.

In the coalition agreement of the federal government in 2013 and the neutrality of search is required in the section net neutrality.

Chile

Chile was the first country to guarantee net neutrality by law (ley N ° 20453 ) worldwide.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, 2011 in the mobile net neutrality has been required by law on June 23. Thus, it was network providers to block under the threat of heavy fines banned certain services such as VoIP in their networks. On 8 May 2012, the Dutch parliament passed a law on general net neutrality in the fixed network and thus created a precedent in the European Union. This stipulates that network providers may not block or discriminate against any traffic on their networks. As an exception to net neutrality, the law defines four cases:

• Traffic congestion, with the same species must be treated equally by traffic
• Implement a law or a court order
• To maintain the integrity and security of the network and the services of the provider concerned
• The transfer of non-authorized communication to restrict to an end user, provided the end user has given his or her consent

Slovenia

In December 2012, the Slovenian parliament adopted a law for the protection of net neutrality the Dutch model. Striking about the adopted law is a prohibition contained therein for network providers to link their services together with Internet services. Slovenia thus encountered the debate about managed services. In contrast to the Dutch law a limitation of net neutrality is possible only on the basis of a court order, statutory exceptions are no longer possible.

Norway

In Norway, a trade agreement was concluded on net neutrality in 2009.

Switzerland

In Switzerland National Balthasar Glättli has filed a Motion to statutory codification of net neutrality on December 14, 2012. In February of 2013, the Federal Council requested the rejection by Parliament. This was justified with the upcoming partial revision of the Telecommunications Act, to which the Federal Council intends to make proposals on net neutrality.