November 7, 2010 Europe Takes Up Debate on Universal Internet Access By KEVIN J. O'BRIEN BERLIN --- The global debate over how access to the Internet should be determined and paid for has attracted free speech advocates, telephone network operators and big online businesses like Google and Facebook. This week, arguments over so-called network neutrality move to Brussels, where the European Commission and Parliament are holding a daylong meeting that is expected to draw speakers from industry, government and academia. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission attempted this year to bar operators --- telecommunications and cable companies that offer connections to the Internet --- from selectively managing the data flowing over their networks to assure that all customers got adequate service. The commission tried to prohibit their extracting payment from big traffic generators like Google, but the proposal is bogged down in legal challenges. In Europe, the debate is not as far along, but the outcome is equally clouded. Important signals about the Continent's approach may come Thursday from Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner for telecommunications, who is scheduled to speak at the meeting and must report to the Parliament on the status of net neutrality by the end of the year. In the absence of new regulation, Europe appears to be on track to give mobile network operators a relatively free hand in managing the data flowing over their networks. That could include the imposition of additional charges on rivals, like the voice-over-Internet service Skype. Ms. Kroes, in public statements this year, has warned operators not to bar rival services from their mobile networks but has not indicated that she intends to push for tighter regulation that would limit the way operators can manage their data traffic. [...] Continua qui: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/technology/08iht-neutral.html