Net Neutrality Lobbyists go to Europe

Posted by Claude Aiken on Mar 10, 2009 in Breaking News, Tech Law | 0 comments

It looks like the net neutrality lobbyists interested in influencing the debate here in the U.S. have packed up and left for Europe.  Why?

Because European parliament recently passed a bill that had both pro- and anti-net neutrality provisions inserted in the text of the legislation.  Obviously this caused a little bit of a row; American companies caught wind of this opportunity to influence the debate and have been battling for their chosen side in the lobbyist wars, with an eye to influence the debate here in the U.S.

The International Herald Tribune has a great article on it.  Here’s one of the key quotes:

“I’ve never seen this level of lobbying before by American companies in Brussels,” said Laurence Vandewalle, a technology adviser to the European Green Party since 1997. Referring to AT&T and Verizon, she added: “They want European Parliament to take a position against net neutrality in order to sell it in the U.S.”