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Deutsch: Französisches Parlament veröffentlicht erfreulichen Bericht zur Netz...

Last week, a trans-partisan/cross party parliamentary mission set up by the Economic Affairs committee of the French National Assembly released a report on Net Neutrality. After working on the report for more than five months and conducting dozens of hearings, the mission led by Laure de La Raudière (UMP, conservative) and Corinne Erhel (PS, socialist) presented a 145-page document covering most aspects of Net Neutrality.

Overall, the report is extremely positive - probably one of the most detailed ever issued on the matter by public authorities in Europe. Although it draws to a large extent on the French electronic communication regulatory authority's (ARCEP) 10 proposals from September 2010, the report goes further on several aspects.

In particular, the report includes a call for the legislative protection of Net Neutrality, which is defined as "the ability of Internet users to send and receive any application of their choice, to connect any device and use the programmes of their choice, as long as they don't harm the network with a quality of service that is transparent, sufficient and non-discriminatory (...)". Interestingly, the non-discrimination criteria is interpreted strictly, as the the authors explain that all traffic should be treated equally, thereby rejecting the so-called traffic differentiation. Traffic differentiation would have allowed for different treatments according to types of traffic.

The document confines acceptable management of Internet traffic to cases of legal obligations, unforeseen congestion or if the network's security is at risk. By doing so, it draws a clear line between the Internet and managed services, which are defined as all electronic communications for which operators guarantee a specific quality of service and manage traffic to that aim. To make sure the difference between the Internet and managed services is clear, the report further proposes to reserve the "Internet" label to offers abiding by the principle of Net Neutrality.

The most political aspect of the report is its strong stance against content blocking, as the parliamentary mission calls for systematic judiciary oversight of mandatory blocking measures. The mission therefore opposes the recently adopted legislation which grants the police the power to block child abuse websites (LOPPSI law). The rapporteurs also suggest that instead of acting preventively to block "illegal" communications, a repressive logical approach -"whereby illegal activities supported by such communications are condemned"- should be pursued.

One of the shortcomings of the report, however, lies in the fact that it leaves out the issue of network management techniques and whether these should be regulated. In February, a preliminary version suggested that techniques such as Deep Packet Inspection should be monitored so as to ensure that they are not used in a way that jeopardizes the privacy of Internet users. It is unknown why this issue was eventually dropped from the final version.

The work of the mission and the reception of the report by other members of the Economic Affairs committee of the French National Assembly is a positive step. But it remains to be seen if and how the report will actually translate into actual policies. Rapporteur Laure de La Raudière has indicated that she is ready to table a legislative proposal to implement some of the recommendations of the report. But with the 2012 elections coming up in France and considering that the agenda of the French Parliament is already quite full, any vote on Net Neutrality before late 2012 is very unlikely. But the content of the report already gives a clear signal to telecoms operators that, for some lawmakers at least, the future of the Internet matters more than their narrow business interests.

The proposals put forward in the document are the following:

A. First axis: enshrine Internet Neutrality as a political goal
Proposal #1: define the Net Neutrality principle
Proposal #2: establish promotion of Net Neutrality as a political goal and give regulatory authorities the power to impose obligations suited for its promotion

B. Second axis: strict supervision of Internet blocking
Proposal #3: further question the justifications for legal blocking measures, despite their seeming legitimacy, due to their inefficiency and the adverse effects they may lead to
Proposal #4: establish immediately a unified procedure which includes the intervention of a judge

C. Third axis: protect the Internet's universality and guarantee its quality
Proposal #5: reserve the "Internet" label to offers which respect the neutrality principle
Proposal #6: create an Internet quality observatory
Proposal #7: assign Arcep (national regulatory authority) the mission of guaranteeing an Internet of sufficient quality

D. Fourth axis: ensure sustainable financing of the Internet
Proposal #8: study the economic stakes attached to the Internet network
Proposal #9: carefully assess the creation of a European "data call termination"

The report (only in French, 13.04.2011)
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/rap-info/i3336.asp

ARCEP has published ten proposals and recommendations for promoting a neutral and high quality Internet (15.11.2010)
http://www.arcep.fr/index.php?id=8571&L=1&tx_gsactualite_pi1³³...

Net Neutrality: An Encouraging Report From the French Parliament (14.04.2011)
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/net-neutrality-an-encouraging-report-fr...

Parliamentary Report recommend introducing Net Neutrality into the law (only in French, 13.04.2011)
http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2011/04/13/un-rapport-parle...

(contribution by Félix Tréguer - La Quadrature du Net)