Framing the Network Neutrality debate : a multi-stakeholder approach towards a policy blue-print

Primavera de Filippi (1) , Luca Belli (1)

1 CERSA - Centre d'études et de recherches de science administrative

Network Neutrality (NN) refers to the principle whereby all electronic communication should be treated in a non-discriminatory way, regardless of their type, content, origin or destination. Originally seen as a network design principle, it is, nowadays, increasingly regarded as a normative principle aimed at ensuring that all Internet users be granted universal and non-discriminatory access to all legitimate online resources (content, services, or applications), along with the right to have their own resources universally available on the Internet. At the European level, the European Parliament has explicitly recognized the importance to enshrine the NN principle into legislation to promote the establishment of a European Digital Single Market. To this extent, the European Commission recently proposed a Regulation for a Single Telecoms Market (September 2013) aimed at securing NN by precluding Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from discriminating against specific services, content or applications - while nonetheless allowing them to enter into contractual agreements to provide certain content and applications providers (CAPs) with enhanced quality of service.

Mots clés: network neutrality; human rights; internet governance

Domaines: Droit

Primavera de Filippi, Luca Belli. Framing the Network Neutrality debate : a multi-stakeholder approach towards a policy blue-print. 2013. ⟨hal-01026101⟩