The ACM (Authority for Consumers & Markets) has decided that T-Mobile may continue to violate the principle of net neutrality with its service “Data-free Music”. Bits of Freedom cannot be content with the decision and will challenge this decision.

Since last year, there are rules in all of Europe that state that the internet user must be allowed to decide freely for him- or herself what he or she does on the internet – a principle called net neutrality. Operators, however, have immediately started testing the limits of these rules. Soon after the rules came into effect, T-Mobile launched a subscription in which the use of certain music services is not deducted from the user's data plan. That certainly runs counter to the principle of net neutrality and, in the opinion of Bits of Freedom, the European net neutrality rules as well.

“By deciding what exactly constitutes a music service, T-Mobile decides which services are eligible for preferential treatment,” says Rejo Zenger, policy advisor at Bits of Freedom. Furthermore, not all services can or want to conform to T-Mobile's demands. This means that only a select few music services receive preferential treatment. That is harmful to the innovative nature of the internet. “The internet has gained its current position in our society so quickly precisely because every computer, and therefore every service, could be reached by every user as easily as the next, and without someones permission,” says Rejo Zenger.

With its decisionHere's the announcement of the ACM, the ACM undermines the innovative power of the internet for all of Europe. Because of the leading role that the Netherlands has played for years in the field of net neutrality, everybody in Europe is looking at enforcement in the Netherlands. “By not strictly enforcing the rules now, the ACM encourages weakening the protection of net neutrality throughout Europe,” says Rejo Zenger.

Contact

• Rejo Zenger, +31 6 39 64 27 38, rejo.zenger@bof.nl
• David Korteweg, +31 6 21 16 71 10, david.korteweg@bof.nl