Earlier today, the European Parliament voted in favor of its controversial net neutrality protections, the same ones that activists and technology companies have criticized for containing loopholes that could be easily exploited to undermine the goal of protecting net neutrality in the European Union. Rather than addressing these concerns and amending the loopholes, the MEPs decided to pass the horribly flawed net neutrality rules as they were, which could open the door to a lot of problems for European consumers.
Net neutrality advocates have slammed the European Parliament today after it voted in favour of Internet ‘fast lanes and slow lanes’, which they say plays into the hands of wealthy and powerful companies. Just 50 of 751 possible MEPs attended the European Parliament today, and following a debate this morning, they passed a text on net neutrality without the inclusion of amendments closing several loopholes. MEPS said that internet ‘fast and slow lanes’ would encourage innovation in the EU, but those in favour of net neutrality say the opposite is the case: only a level playing field allows innovation to flourish. Net neutrality advocates were disappointed that the abolition of roaming charges became the key point in the text. Ars Technica called this ‘a carrot [offered] by the European Commission in order to persuade MEPs to accept the rest of the package.’ However those MEPs who voted in a bid to end roaming charges as soon as possible will likely have to wait until June 2017 to actually see the law in action.
