Net Neutrality
Net neutrality: Maybe Europe’s politicians simply dislike the open Internet
A German version of this article can be found here.
Last week’s vote by the EU parliament to give up on net neutrality (by sneakily pretending to protect it) was perceived by many within the digital sector as a major mistake and blow to Europe’s digital future. The overwhelmingly strong case for net neutrality was apparently not enough to convince the members of the parliament. The big question is: Why not?
To some extent, massive and infamously successful lobbying by the telecommunication giants undoubtedly must have played a role. Yet, the carriers’ obvious attempts to influence the opinion in Brussels can hardly be the only explanation for why the EU politicians did not accept the amendments that would have fixed the loopholes and weaknesses of the new regulation framework.
I have a theory what else might have influenced their decisions: The widespread desire among the European political class to gain more control over Internet – through a backdoor. Continue Reading
When it comes to its digital future, Europe could suffer a double defeat
In conjunction with the outlining of the European Union’s strategy to create a single digital market, a lot has been written and said about the difficulties of the continent to establish strong technology companies that are able to compete with the big tech giants of the Silicon Valley.
This failure to produce a significant number of big digital players with international importance is causing wide-reaching fear that Europe’s chances for future growth and prosperity are decreasing. But the absence of forward-looking Internet juggernauts from Europe does not only raise questions about where the economies of the region are heading, but could also cause major damage to the core of the ecosystem where all this innovation is supposed to come from. Continue Reading
Fred Wilson: “It is very unfortunate that the most important leader in Europe is against net neutrality”
Fred Wilson, managing partner at New York-based Venture Capital firm Union Square Ventures, is one of the few investors that I closely pay attention to. One obvious reason is that he blogs on an almost daily basis, what very few of his colleagues in the VC business do. But more importantly, Wilson is a great thinker who seems to have a more holistic approach to his job than just turning a bit money into lots of money, no matter how (I do not know him personally, I am judging based on his public appearance).
Wilson is also a big supporter of net neutrality. The other day, at the LeWeb conference in Paris, he said some very important words (from about 14:30, embed below):
“You had Merkel basically coming out against net neutrality yesterday. I think the governmental leaders in Europe are anti-innovation. That’s unfortunate. It is very unfortunate that the most important leader in Europe is against net neutrality. It is very upsetting to me. She is wrong, and if she would give me a meeting with her I would tell her why she is wrong. Which I won’t get.”
In his blog posts and keynotes Wilson always shows a lot of humility and understatement. I would not see it as an impossible thing at all for him to get that meeting. Even though I do not count myself as a fan of Merkel, my impression is that she always appreciates speaking with smart minds from industries that she is not an expert in.
I do not know whether this would change anything, but seeing Europe struggling in building a sustainable digital future and hearing Merkel’s stance against net neutrality, I think she and Wilson really should meet!
P.S. after his LeWeb remarks I would not be surprised if Wilson already received a slot in Merkel’s calendar. At least I hope.
