In a surprising gesture of pre-Christmas bonhomie, the Council of Ministers has issued directions to European Telecoms regulators, and to the European Commission to put in the preliminaries of a net neutrality policy.

Are the mobile companies getting away with poor service, operating as as cartels and supporting cruel labour practices in the name of cheaper phones?

Blackberry's recent data server outage left millions of people without their emails or access to the Internet for several days. Blackberry said 'sorry' but is that enough? Meanwhile, as Nokia launched its new Windows smartphone, its PR succeeded in focussing the journalists on the excitement of new apps. The mobile companies are conspicuously silent on the allegation that phone manufacturers are supporting the most horrifying labour conditions to mine essential minerals for the smartphone chips, and potentially financing the civil war in the Congo.

A call to protect media pluralism is positive, but the ongoing bleating about switching only supports weak regulators.

The European Parliament is in the process of establishing a position on net neutrality. It was voted on yesterday in the Industry committee, and calls on the European Commission to buck up its ideas, but falls short of calling for strong action against non-neutral network operators. Yesterday's vote concerned a Resolution on Net Neutrality,

The European Parliament has a new rapporteur for Net Neutrality and he has hit the ground running. He is the German MEP Herbert Reul, and the the first thing he wants to do, is to ask the Council of Ministers how it will ensure an Open Internet and net neutrality across the EU. And he has drafted a resolution on Net Neutrality which the Parliament may eventually vote on. Both items are currently on the agenda for the Industry committee (ITRE). However, there is concern that the matter will simply end up as a sop to industry, and act as a further ballast to its non-neutral behaviour in blocking Internet services.

The Netherlands shows how the EU Telecoms Package may be implemented with positive net neutrality principles enshrined.

The Netherlands has taken the lead in Europe on the issue of net neutrality. The Dutch Parliament voted this week on a law which being hailed positively as a net neutrality law - the first net neutrality law in Europe. This law is the Dutch implementation of the EU Telecoms Package. Key provisions will prevent ISPs

The European Commission Communication on  The open internet and net neutrality in Europe   is mostly disappointing, failing to stand up to the telecoms operators. But there may be just a hint that  the Commission could  bring out  the whips if they don't behave. 

The European Commission  has revealed  its official view on the open internet and net neutrality. It comes in a  follow-up report  to last year's official consultation, released this week.

At first sight, it seems very industry-cuddly, reiterating views expressed by the telecoms industry lobbyists and by some regulators who support them, such as the UK's own Ofcom. But, when one reads it in full, it does seem that the Commission could be holding the whip behind its back - if only it can get the courage to use it.

The report  has been criticised for being weak and ineffective, and it does bear all the hall-marks of a classic cop-out. It is  peppered

The UK government is trying to sneak in the transposition of the Telecoms Package, acccording to a Parliamentary answer given by the Minister Ed Vaizey. His answer  said  that it will be transposed by Statutory Instrument (SI) in April.  

The use of an SI  is likely to mean that Parliament does not get to vote on it, but simply is asked to approve. Without any public debate, and with the large telcos such as Vodafone, sweet-talking the Ministries, this means that UK Internet users stand to lose out.

Why is this important? The Telecoms Package contains a provision which gives regulators  - ie Ofcom - a duty to promote the ability of Internet users to access content, services and applications. This provision, weaker than what

In 2009, Vodafone lobbied the EU for the right to restrict the Internet. Now it uses deep packet inspection (dpi) to implement content censorship.

---Updated on 17 January 2011 - please see below.---

On Christmas Eve my Blackberry was reset by an automated security update which wiped the functionality and left me with a white screen saying 'app.error'. This chance situation led me to uncover a censorship system which Vodafone has put in place without informing me.

As a Vodafone customer of some 15 years, I had a polite conversation with the call centre operator who took my call. But as a policy analyst, her responses to my questions about traffic management policies gave me cause for concern.

A little investigation afterwards revealed that Vodafone has put in place a 'content control' system which is a form censorship, because it puts restrictions on the content where the decision to restrict has been taken by a third-party and not by me. The fact that it is a corporate administrator, and not the State, is irrelevant. The system has been developed outside of European jurisdiction, by a company which has no accountability to European policy-makers and which appears to be implemented via

A young man of 22 cites attempts by European Union to restrict the Internet among his reasons for taking a political stand and to attack the websites of giant corporations. What is the real message here to policy-makers?

Operation Payback is a targetted action by a group of several thousand people against the websites of corporations which have in one way or another, removed facilities from Wikileaks, the website which has released thousands of US diplomatic cables and other material that the American government would like to keep secret.

When one of the group - which goes by the name 'Anonymous' - was interviewed by the BBC this week, he cited European Union policy as one of the reasons for this action.

The young man interviewed called himself by the pseudonym "Coldblood". He was aged 22, a software engineer, and a-political. But he was passionate about keeping the Internet open and free. He was interviewed on

An open letter from Skype, eBay, and Yahoo is  the latest round to be fired in an ever-hotter net neutrality debate in the UK. The addressee is the Minister responsible, Ed Vaizey,  who has been  under attack since mid-November,  for supporting the notion of a two-tier Internet.

But will such tactics turn him round, when his every action is dictated by the regulator  -  anti-net neutrality lobbyist, Ofcom?

Ed Vaizey,  UK Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries  has been sent an open letter by Skype, Yahoo, eBay and a number of citizens and consumer groups,  calling on the government to protect the open Internet. The letter is cc'd to his two bosses, Jeremy Hunt, Minister for Culture, and Vince Cable, Minister for Business.

The letter highlights how end-users access to content, services and applications is already restricted today in the UK. It calls on the government to "to remove any such arbitrary restrictions to the open Internet".   The letter goes on to say "We also recommend the Government's policies on the open Internet and traffic management take account of

Report from Broadband Traffic Management congress, London, 16-18 November 2010

An afternoon spent among the telcos and their suppliers does not bring much cheer to those who want to protect the open Internet. If deep packet inspection (DPI) is a cornerstone of the network, how should policy-makers be thinking?

* PLUS * I experience a DPI sales demo: "Content filtering ? Certainly. Which filters do you want?"

Broadband Traffic Management is a new exhibition which provides a forum for discussion of the issues surrounding the new technologies which operate and run broadband networks. A visit to it was eye-opening.

It was revelatory to see how much enthousiasm is going in to developing new ideas to alter the structure of what we know today as, 'the Internet'. The changes will be justified by

Follow-up report to the EU Summit on ‘The Open Internet and Net Neutrality in Europe', Brussels, 11 November 2010 

Lobbyists from the UK regulator Ofcom have been active in the European Parliament, against net neutrality. How can this be consistent with their role as regulator, and their duty to promote the ability of citizens to access and distribute content, applications and services?

According to sources in the European  Parliament, lobbyists from Ofcom have been calling in person on MEPs recently to discuss the issue of net neutrality. In particular, it is understood that  Ofcom  opposes a principle of

 Follow up to the EU Summit on ‘The Open Internet and Net Neutrality in Europe', Brussels, 11 November 2010 

Catherine Trautmann wants a Recommendation to address the issue of net neutrality in Europe. Neelie Kroes has said she will take action against operators who cause problems with traffic management.

Following the EU Net Neutrality Summit, the lobbying halls and conferences are now buzzing with the ‘will they, won't they' question. Will the EU take positive steps to protect net neutrality? Will they act against operators who block access to content and services? Or won't they instead just wait and see - until maybe it's all a mess?

One of the most positive and practical suggestions came from  MEP Catherine Trautmann. Speaking at the Net Neutrality summit, she has called on the Commission to

Report on "EU Summit on The Open Internet and Net Neutrality in Europe"  Brussels, 11 November 2010 

An Internet  slow lane of best efforts and a fast-lane of  telco-surcharged managed services is being pushed by  Europe's  telecoms industry. Will  the EU resist it and support the needs of citizens? This was a key question arising out of the  EU summit on Net Neutrality.' 

The event was  a  political follow-up to the Telecoms Package process of 2009, and the outcome of citizen lobbying.  It was the final element of a consultation by the European Commission, which had an  objective  to ‘scrutinise  the open and neutral character of the Internet'  in Europe. 

 The packed venues at both the Commission and the Parliament, indicated the high level of current political interest in net neutrality in Europe.  The Commissioner for Information Society, Neelie Kroes, made a positive commitment that "the system as a whole, comprising multiple operators, should ensure that European consumers are able to easily access and distribute content, services and applications of their choice."

However, one immediate observation from attending the summit was how the ‘Net neutrality' discussion  swiftly  mutated  into a discussion on