On Tuesday morning, the EU Parliament voted on two proposals, on the one hand the abolition of roaming fees and on the other hand the restriction of network neutrality. Both were voted for, which means that starting next year, roaming charges for phone calls in the EU will be eliminated completely from 2017. What future regulations mean for net neutrality is less rosy. We have summarized the most important things for you.
What does net neutrality actually mean exactly?
The term describes the currently prevailing structure of the Internet in which all data is classified equally, meaning that every user - no matter which Internet provider they may be with - can access the data they want just like everyone else, no one is given priority.
But this current situation is now set to change: Providers no longer just want to transport data to users, but rather divide them into categories of different value - certain data is therefore transported more slowly than others, which are essentially in the fast lane. You have to pay for faster data transfer .
What are the consequences of a change?
What of course plays the essential role in this context is the economy. The telecommunications providers are not satisfied with their already astronomical assets; no, they still need to make more money. This is a bitter setback for aspiring start-ups or smaller companies: If data is no longer transferred at the same speed, others get preference, which means that equal opportunities no longer exist and asserting yourself against larger companies seems almost impossible because there is no money.
The adoption of net neutrality is already taking place gradually: providers, among other things, conclude deals with music and streaming services or offer their own in order to circumvent net neutrality, see Telekom.
what does that mean to you?
For students or young professionals who want to establish themselves on the Internet, for example, it will become increasingly difficult to reach users. Content is transferred slower than others , unless you pay extra for it - but newbies in particular cannot afford that. While the Internet has so far been a free field for experimentation, this could change drastically in the future.
But students would also be affected in general: If data that you need is selected and perhaps not transferred, there is also a loss of information - and therefore the exact opposite of the basic principle of the Internet.
If you want to find out more about the topic, take a look at the explanatory video from Anonymous Hamburg:
Further information can be found at Spiegel , and you can also read up on it at ZEIT.de.
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what does that mean to you?
