As we celebrated the World Wide Web’s 25th anniversary just a few weeks ago, we could rightly so revel, in a virtual sense, on this human achievement that has changed important aspects of our lifestyle.
This profound change is exemplified in the ability to access information whenever and wherever we want, entrenched in new ways of working, relaxing, socialising, educating and entertaining ourselves.
However, it has not been a nice smooth ride, as new opportunities have led to the rise of new challenges like privacy, cybersecurity, and the commercialisation of a service, access to which is increasingly being regarded as a human right.
While the digital divide between those who have access and those who do not has narrowed, internet access is now the subject of a new challenge: ‘net neutrality’.
Internet is a worldwide infrastructure that uses a lot of pipes and wireless systems that give us the facilities and tools to send and receive e-mails, check out social media and access online services. It works on a best-effort basis – sometimes the internet is ‘slow’ because there is a congestion somewhere between our computing device and where the content/service we are trying to use is hosted.
The Malta Communications Authority (MCA) likens internet traffic management to the road network system: “Much like the roads are used by a number of people, so is the internet service. Similar to the road network, when the number of users increase, congestion may occur, possibly resulting in a temporarily slow internet connection.
“In order to minimise internet traffic congestion, service providers may implement traffic management policies to ensure that all network resources are fully used in an efficient manner to maximise the internet experience of users and minimise congestion.”
The Malta Communications Authority likens internet traffic management to the road network system
Some elements in the corporate world have stretched the ‘efficiency’ argument and are suggesting that some content should being given preferential treatment by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) against payment. This call stirred a controversy whereby end-users, small companies and start-ups raised the alarm against the suggestion which could, once again, widen the digital divide as the quality of access to some services would be directly proportional to the financial means of the end user or the organisation using it.
In recent years the EU has started to look into the issues and consider whether to issue a framework to EU Member States that protects open internet access in terms of this ‘net neutrality’ debate.
The framework came into force last April and BEREC, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, has published these guidelines to be adopted in all EU countries, including Malta. These are available at: http://berec. europa.eu/eng/netneutrality/
The regulations are quite clear in protecting the principles of openness, transparency and quality, while detailing how ISPs can conduct traffic management without discrimination and provide access to the end user of content over internet. In layman’s terms, there should be no distinction between the data that finally makes up a video stream, a Facebook share or a business transaction. All data is considered equal.
Indeed, BEREC makes it clear that the new regulations on net neutrality “neither impose nor discriminate in favour of the use of a particular type of technology… The existing regulatory framework aims to promote the ability of end-users to access and distribute information or run applications and services of their choice”.
ISPs are still given the opportunity to implement ‘reasonable’ internet data traffic management. Once again, the new regulations insist that “in order to be deemed to be reasonable, such measures shall be transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate, and shall not be based on commercial considerations but on objectively different technical quality of service requirements of specific categories of traffic. Such measures shall not monitor the specific content and shall not be maintained for longer than necessary.” Some exceptions are allowed but these are very specific such as in cases of a threat to security or a genuine traffic congestion.
In line with the new regulations, ISPs must list any traffic management policies and how such measures could impact the quality of the internet service, how this impacts the contract with the subscribers and any other related issues. Such information must be communicated to the individual subscriber and must be accessible online.
As technology continues to evolve with 5G mobile communication and the internet of Things – where even our appliances in our homes are connected to the internet – on the horizon, access to one of the most critical tools in the digital society will remain a challenge that has to be met with the common good in mind.
Martin Debattista is a digital media researcher, educator and strategist.