Categories: Web

British communications minister opposes net neutrality

Ed Vaizey, Minister for Communication, Culture and the Creative Industries in Britain

In a speech at a telecoms conference in London recently Ed Vaizey, Minister for Communication, Culture and the Creative Industries in Britain, made clear his opposition to net neutrality. He declared that British ISPs should be allowed to prioritise traffic to certain content providers, effectively expelling the notion of net neutrality.

A move like this would mean that big companies could pay ISPs to prioritise traffic to their site, ensuring that it is faster and more responsive that competitors. This is bad news for start-up companies and smaller sites that may not be able to afford this expense.

Vaizey stated that the idea would somehow work if ISPs were transparent and open about traffic discrimination to their customers:

“Under the new provisions providers must present information about their service, including the nature and extent of their traffic management policies and their impact on service quality in a clear, visible and easy to understand form for all their customers.”

He also stated that ISPs already manage traffic and that there was no “evidence of any impact either on competition or consumers from traffic management.”

Net neutrality is very important for the continued openness and innovation of the internet, and once you start favouring one user over another on a network, the notion of net neutrality disappears.

Albizu Garcia

Albizu Garcia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gain -- a marketing technology company that automates the social media and content publishing workflow for agencies and social media managers, their clients and anyone working in teams.

View Comments

Recent Posts

DARPA ‘CoasterChase’ looks to mitigate stress with ingestible neurotech

DARPA is putting together a research program called CoasterChase that aims to mitigate warfighters' stress…

13 hours ago

Club of Rome launches joint taskforce that would restrict your food, travel & ownership choices

The 'Materials and Consumption Taskforce' is an attempt to micro-manage all aspects of your life:…

6 days ago

As the tech talent shortage continues, Ness Digital Engineering nurtures its rising stars

Talent in the tech industry has long been a hot commodity. Yet in today's world,…

6 days ago

Prezent launches My Workspace to ensure AI-powered presentation software works as tool, not a burden

In an ideal scenario, professionals in 2025 should be able to leverage a personal suite…

6 days ago

NTT’s simultaneous Kabuki performance shows photonics connectivity is more than a song and dance

In a fusion of tradition and technology, Japanese tech firm NTT unveiled the capabilities of…

1 week ago

UN finalizes neurotech ethics draft, to be adopted at General Conference

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) finalizes its "Recommendation on the Ethics…

2 weeks ago