Loopholes creeping into the Italian proposal on net neutrality <https://edri.org/loopholes-creeping-into-the-italian-proposal-on-net-neutral...> The Italian legislative proposal on net neutrality is currently being discussed by the Italian Parliament. Notwithstanding general provisions on the equal treatment of traffic for Internet access services, its amended text contains loopholes and provisions that raise concerns. The text, now containing references to EU Regulation 2120/2015 on net neutrality (and mobile roaming), generally fails to address its main issues, including prioritisation of traffic. In fact, while including a clause on equal treatment of traffic for internet access services (art. 3(1)), it foresees at the same time the possibility to differentiate among best-effort services and ‘additional’ services (Art. 3(2)). According to the draft Italian law, those services may prioritise classes of traffic, apparently without limitation. If adopted, Internet access providers would be able to offer separate prioritised services as long as they are not included in the general Internet offer. Art. 3(2) of the Italian draft law states that: “In accordance with implementation guidelines of Art. 3(5) of Regulation 2015/2120, ISPs may commercialise added-value services for prioritisation of traffic classes in their network in order to satisfy specific exigencies of business or home customers”. If adopted as law, this would also mean that operators would be free to offer an internet access subscription for €X capped at YMb, on top of which customers can buy zero-rated services, that could be offered à-là-carte or as a bouquet. This would severely restrict the freedom to impart information for Italians. An Italian service provider, TIM, is already offering a zero-rated video streaming service (‘TimVision’), which gives unlimited access to contents provided by TimVision and other affiliated content providers without consuming gigabites. For the moment, it only includes audiovisual entertainment, but TIM announced that they are going to offer a 4k service on wired broadband and a possibility to open it to other commercial partners. [...] Alberto