Netherlands First European Country To Pass Net Neutrality Law

It seems the Netherlands is stepping up to the plate on the net neutrality issue by passing their own law. This new law will prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from performing traffic management unless networks become congested or network security is compromised. It just so happens that this restriction on ISPs also includes deep packet inspection (DPI) which allows the ability for data mining, eavesdropping and censorship by reading the data and header of a packet as it passes an inspection point. Regardless of this the fact remains that those downloading via torrents or streaming video from Hulu will not see their bandwidth limited by traffic shaping via application usage. This means that on top of blocking traffic shaping unless absolutely necessary providers can no longer give unrestricted access to their own services while restricting others. Interestingly enough this law was formed in June of last year due to the parliament passing a motion that stops mobile operators from blocking VOIP calls on their networks. While the issue of net neutrality is not a new one it’s still a sore issue everywhere else in the world.