CBC News wrote:
Dutch internet provider UPC is ushering in a system where users will pay more to access certain types of online services and websites, a clear move away from net neutrality. The system will cut down users' connection speeds by two-thirds when connecting to bandwidth-intensive services, such as online video, between noon and midnight. The company says the move will allow it to solve network-management problems and provide customers with faster
service.
All uses of the internet besides simple web surfing, or HTTP traffic, will see their speeds cut to one third during the time period. Websites that have heavy traffic, like those that host a good deal of
video, will also face the restriction. A spokesperson for the company told British news site V3 that the
changes will be instituted in a few weeks, and that they are not yet final.
"[It is] important to know here that the changes are part of our continuous improvement of the network settings, and are not finalized as was assumed [in some press reports]," the spokesperson said. "We want to prevent the excessive internet usage by a very low number of customers — approximately one per cent — causing congestion for the other 99 per cent." Consumer groups are concerned about the company's brazen move away
from net neutrality, where all uses of the internet and all websites are treated equally, and whether other Dutch ISPs will follow its lead. "This is clearly harmful to the neutrality of the network. It shows bad network management. Legitimate networks divide all bandwidth among all users and, if the network is too small, they should invest in more
bandwidth," said Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder of consumer group La Quadrature du Net.
"This case determines the future of users' access to the internet. I expect there to be resistance from users and for some to leave the ISP."
The European Parliament has been discussing net neutrality rules this year and is set to resume talks on the topic in September.
Holland is fast losing its mind when it comes to legal matters. Not only has the organisation "brein", which claims to fight digital piracy, filed several ludicrous lawsuits (notably the Pirate Bay one), but neo-conservative secretary of justice Ernst Hirsch-Ballin has pushed through measures forcing ISPs to keep enormous amounts of data on internet traffic of its users for up to three years, not to mention things unrelated to computers, such as a proposed law reversing the burden of evidence for fraud, where citizens are asked to report to the police people in their environment that have, according to them, material posessions like expensive cars that the citizen in question does not believe they could afford. When such a case would be brought to court (for which the police merely has to establish that it is *possible* that the possessions in question were purchased with illegal money), the defendant would have to prove that they did *not* come by the possessions illegally.
In short, our system of justice is being eroded, and people are too busy arguing over whether Muslims should be forced to tear half the pages out of the Qu'ran to worry about it too much.