Yesterday, the European Parliament voted on protections to the open Internet as part of a legislative package on telecommunications. The measure, called the Telecoms Single Market proposal, seeks to codify open Internet protections into EU law and requires Internet service providers to treat all types of Internet traffic equally. This means that Internet service providers would not be able to pick and choose what content consumers can more readily access, but consumers would have the freedom to access any legal content they desire. It puts the power into the hands of the consumer and does not allow gatekeepers to the Internet. The vote today is just the first step in making this proposal law. The measure now moves to the Council for agreement.

Organizations, like the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), have praised the EU Parliament for taking this important  first step today.

CCIA Vice President James Waterworth made the following statement yesterday:

“It is positive that the European Parliament has voted on the open Internet. Robust rules are vital to the entire European economy ensuring that businesses and consumers can use the applications and services of their choice. An open Internet will also provide the European economy with a comparative advantage against our global competitors. We look forward to working with the Council to ensure robust protections for the open Internet feature in its text.”

Jens Henrik-Jeppesen, CDT Director of European Affairs made the following statement:

“The European Parliament’s vote improves the original Commission proposal and the text adopted by the lead ITRE Committee in March in important ways. Notably, the Parliament voted to include a clearly phrased principle of non-discrimination for Internet traffic. This was the right thing to do. Internet service providers should not be in a position to pick winners among companies providing services over the open Internet, and the adopted text is an effective safeguard against such behavior,” said Jens Henrik-Jeppesen, CDT Director for European Affairs.

To learn more about the Open Internet issue and what today’s vote meant, please visit CCIA and CDT.