[Chile]: No Compromise on Net Neutrality

While the Net Neutrality on the US goes towards "Fast Lanes", Chile, the first countries to adopt a Net Neutrality law (see "Chile: First Country to Legislate Net Neutrality" - here) does not compromise on any aspect of Neutrality.

Leo Mirani reports to QUARTZ that "A surprising decision in Chile shows what happens when policies of neutrality are applied without nuance. This week, Santiago put an end to the practice, widespread in developing countries, of big companies “zero-rating” access to their services. As Quartz has reported, companies such as Facebook, Google, Twitter and Wikipedia strike up deals with mobile operators around the world to offer a bare-bones version of their service without charging customers for the data"

Some examples of Zero rate programs:

• Facebook Offers Free Messaging Through 18 MNOs - here
• Vodafone India Offers Free Twitter Access - here
• VimpelCom - Free Access to Wikipedia - here 

Back to Chile's choice - ".. But Chile’s Subsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones has decided (Spanish) that such promotions violate net neutrality laws and must end in two days, on June 1.According to the law (Spanish), internet service providers must “not arbitrarily distinguish content, applications or services, based on the source or ownership thereof”.

See "When net neutrality backfires: Chile just killed free access to Wikipedia and Facebook" - here.

Chile: First Country to Legislate Net Neutrality

   

The Cámara de Diputados De Chile  (Chamber of Deputies of Chile), approved (100 votes in favor and one abstention) a new Net Neutrality law. This makes Chile the first country to pass such legislation.

See "Cámara aprueba modificaciones del Senado a proyecto que protege derechos de usuarios de internet" - here (Spanish).

The new law says that ISPs should "ensure access to all types of content, services or applications available on the network and offer a service that does not distinguish content, applications or services, based on the source of it or their property".

The law also requires ISPs to:

• Provide a parental control service
• Be transparent on service terms to customers (in writing)
• Have proper security measures (user privacy, virus protection and network security) in place.

"The Minister of transport and telecommunications, Felipe Morandé, expressed the support of the Government initiative and assured that the authorities priority is for greater connectivity and accordingly is committed efforts to extend the coverage of broadband with the goal of achieving a 100% in eight years. "