Lodz Cyber Hub joins the European call in defense of net neutrality

Among the signatories are major organisations such as BEUC – European Consumer Organisation, EDRi, Article 19, Internet Society, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Polish association Związek Cyfrowa Polska, and ourselves – Lodz Cyber Hub.

The proposed changes threaten the principle of net neutrality, which is a cornerstone of the open internet, innovation, and fair competition. We call on the European Commission to protect these values and reject mechanisms that could hand over control of the internet to the largest telecom operators.

We are concerned about the continued calls by large telecom companies to introduce, in the DNA proposal, a dispute resolution mechanism for the Internet’s interconnection ecosystem. We regret that these proposals, first put forward by some telecom operators in 2022 as part of broader “Fair Share” mechanisms1, are still being actively considered in ongoing discussions on the future of the EU telecoms sector. As described by the large telecom operators themselves2, the goal of such a mechanism is to implement a so-called “fair share” settlement regime, whereby content and application providers (CAPs) would be required to pay telecom companies mandatory fees for delivering traffic.

? Read the full joint statement: Joint Statement on preserving net neutrality in the upcoming Digital Networks Act