In a forceful open letter published today, Mozilla VP of Advocacy Ashley Boyd urges the European Commission to uphold their global leadership on net neutrality, rather than sliding backward. The letter is addressed to Margarethe Vestager, Vice President, and Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market.
Boyd expresses alarm and dismay that European lawmakers are considering a ‘sending party pays’ policy — rules that would require certain online service providers to make dedicated financial contributions to telecommunications network operators.
“The policy would violate a core tenet of net neutrality, and would have harmful knock-on consequences for European consumers, creators, and innovators,” Boyd writes. For example, European consumers would inevitably pay more for access as online services passed along higher costs. And smaller businesses would struggle to shoulder the levies that Big Tech could more easily pay.
Boyd also warns that undermining net neutrality would seriously blunt the progress of the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act. “Net neutrality is and will remain fundamental to Europe’s digital future,” she writes. “I urge you to protect it.”