European Commission consultation on online content
The European Commission is asking some important questions:
‘How should EU policy be designed so as to stimulate the creation and legal distribution of creative online content and services in Europe? What are the obstacles to the implementation of successful new business models? How can public policy promote a satisfactory degree of cultural and linguistic diversity in online content creation and circulation? How can European technologies and devices be successful in creative online content markets?’
In its recently closed public consultation entitled Content Online in the Single Market (which sounds a bit like an internet dating service), the Commission sought answers. The responses are here.
There are a total of 96 responses, covering a wide range of issues. Reading through them basically provides a snapshot of how many of the important European and global players view policy matters dealing with everything from copyright licensing, cultural policy, DRM, and net neutrality. I thought I would quote directly from a few of the more notable responses:
Broadband Stakeholders Group: ‘The dangers of prematurely formulating central policies and regulation, rather than allowing them to develop organically from within the marketplace, are serious. Not only will it deter and distract industry from developing its own solutions, but the risks of imposing inappropriate solutions onto a market in rapid flux are high – any intervention is likely to shape the market and potentially cause distortions with long-lasting and undesired consequences.’
Creative Commons (Hungary): ‘Digital technologies has opened up the possibility of content creation and distribution for groups who were mere ‘consumers’ under different (broadcast) media systems. This technological shift resulted in a cultural shift with more and more culture in tangible form being produced by its users, the consumers themselves. Sadly, the legal framework governing cultural production and distribution have not followed this phenomena, and now it serves as a barrier to the entry of bottom-up content producers to the European and global content markets.’
Deutsche Telekom: ‘[C]ontent creation, particularly in communities or by private persons, has reached an unexpected high volume. No other medium is fostering cultural diversitymore than the Internet. Since its very beginning the Internet provides a platform for a global cultural exchange, as no other medium did before. Without any public intervention the Internet attracts every day millions of new users worldwide. Therefore no guardian for ensuring cultural diversity is necessary.’
European Disability Forum: ‘EDF has contributed to the ongoing revision of the Directive on Audiovisual Media Services (TV without Frontiers), proposing to include the obligation to gradually make all audiovisual media services accessible for persons with disabilities. EDF has also proposed a reporting system, whereby a Member State would be accountable to the European Commission for non-implementation of accessibility requirements.’
NBC Universal: ‘As an initial matter, we note that the Internet has NOT historically operated on the principle of “network neutrality.” There are innumerable examples of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) differentiating their treatment of Internet data. ISPs have historically “throttled back” bandwidth available for certain kinds of traffic, such as video streaming or P2P, when this traffic interfered with email, web browsing, or instant message traffic. Furthermore, ISPs have long utilized measures to filter or block viruses, worms, spam, and other kinds of Internet data that they deemed undesirable. So, network operators have never treated all Internet data equally.’
NBC continues:
‘[W]e think that network operators, such as ISPs, should continue to have the ability to differentiate between desirable and undesirable Internet data. Network operators should, in fact, be encouraged to help develop and implement technologies that allow them to block or filter out illegal Internet traffic, such as files containing child pornography or copyright infringements. Based on prior history, there is no reason to think that network operators will abuse their technical control to discriminate against unlawful Internet data, and increasing competition among network operators makes such an outcome less likely.’
Vodafone: ‘Vodafone currently faces two main legal/regulatory barriers: spectrum reform needs to be addressed urgently and so does the collective management regime of copyright and related rights. The lack of a proportionate regime for mobile payment regulation is another concern.’
