Brussels, 03/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission Vice-President in charge of the Single Digital Market, Andrus Ansip, supports the ideas expressed by the creator of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee. According to the latter, it is necessary to protect net neutrality, if we want to guarantee an open Internet. Speaking on his blog, Ansip posted Berners-Lee's opinion on the issue and said “Sir Tim makes important and valid points on the issue of net neutrality and the need for establishing European rules so that it remains protected. I find his thoughts to be especially timely, given the current debate around the Telecom Single Market regulation.”
Berners-Lee believes that the principle of net neutrality is now under threat. “Net neutrality” is the principle according to which, each “package” of data circulating on the network, and email, web page or video, must receive equal treatment, free from state censorship and which can not restrict citizens' access to content. The European Parliament has taken a clear position on this matter to provide this principle with a strict framework and Tim Berners-Lee says that “Now it's in the hands of the Council of the European Union to determine their position”. He is calling on citizens and enterprise to let the Latvian presidency know that it needs to put the question of net neutrality at the top of its agenda in the political discussions that are due to be concluded in March at a Council level on the “connected continent” package. He advised citizens to “Tweet to the Latvian presidency (@eu2015lv) and let them know that citizens and business in the EU need net neutrality now, before online discrimination becomes the norm”. (IL)