Government won't regulate on net neutrality

Culture minister Ed Vaizey has told a high level meeting of internet stakeholders that the government had no intention of implementing any regulations to enforce net neutrality, a source at the discussions has told V3.co.uk.

Those present at the meeting included internet service providers (ISPs) TalkTalk and BT, telecoms regulator Ofcom and major web firms such as Facebook and Skype, who heard Vaizey repeat the government's position on this issue.

"Vaizey reiterated his stance that he feels net neutrality regulation is not required and Ofcom said that it was a case of sitting tight and watching. BT and TalkTalk were largely left to bat for ISPs," the source said.

This will be seen as a blow by net neutrality supporters who argue that it could stifle innovation by paving the way for ISPs to create tiered networks for the delivery of internet traffic.

Vaizey himself said he was pleased to see the industry was taking steps to regulate the issue of traffic management itself, as seen on Monday by the voluntary code set up by the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG).

"It is good to see that industry has taken the lead on agreeing greater transparency for their traffic management policies," he said, adding that he felt this should be based around three basic policies.

"The first is users should be able to access all legal content. Second, there should be no discrimination against content providers on the basis of commercial rivalry and finally traffic management policies should be clear and transparent."

Internet guru Sir Tim Berners-Lee was present at the meeting and as well as announcing his intention to work with the BSG to build upon its code, outlined his belief that keeping the internet neutral was the best way to help maintain its success.

"While transparency about traffic management policy is a good thing, best practices should also include the neutrality of the net," he said.

"The web has grown so fast precisely because we have had two independent markets, one for connectivity, and the other for content and applications."