The noise from the UK at the Westminster E-Forum? Yawn, snore, zzzzz…..What is all the fuss about? Is David Beckham back from LA??

There was a consensus among Britain’s regulatory gurus this week that the brouhaha in the States over net neutrality laws is a moot point because existing regulatory processes can address any inappropriate blocking or degrading practices by ISPs should they occur. This is something Hands Off has been arguing for quite a while now.

Speakers repeatedly pointed out facts that support Hands Off’s case for keeping the Internet free of additional regulation in the form of legislated net neutrality laws. To name a few:

The Register reports that Ofcom’s director of policy development, Dougal Scott told the gathering: “’There is a very rapid increase of traffic on the internet,’ said Scott on Tuesday, pointing to a ‘change in the nature of applications that people are using on the internet’, particularly time-sensitive applications like voice over IP. He went on to characterise the ‘all bits are equal’ advocates as the ‘most extreme’ fringe of the net neutrality lobby, and insisted that there were ‘real advantages to consumers in treating certain types of applications differently to others’.”

Claire Hobson, head of UK telecommunications policy for the Department of Trade and Industry, stated, as has Hands Off, that the net is not currently neutral.

Andy May, Cable & Wireless’ director of regulatory affairs, “pointed to the rise of online video as a major reason for the introduction of discrimination.”

Ok, granted we fought them in the Revolution and again in 1812, but they did give us the political philosophy that formed the building blocks of our democracy (hat tip John Locke). Continuing the trend of good ideas coming from across the pond, Hands off’s analysis of the Westminster reaction to the net neutrality debate: well played!