A basic principle that was agreed upon was that users should be able to access, use and distribute the content, services and applications of their choice, with the various ‘gatekeepers’ in the ICT value chain respectful of their responsibilities in this regard (and taking into account technical and legal constraints). This was desirable from both a socio-economic perspective but also crucially in line with (Article 10 of) the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular the freedom to access and impart information and knowledge, the freedom of expression and communication.

The question of how to ensure that quality content continues to be made available both on- and offline, with the removal of barriers to its diffusion, was also raised. This included discussions of the rapidly evolving nature and benefits of User Created Content, the role of public service media and public funding, and the importance of fostering legal business models for the wide diffusion of content also from the perspective of offering an alternative to online piracy.

The Plenary concluded that some follow-up actions were needed:
1. Under the auspices of the Council of Europe, a multi-stakeholder, cooperative working group should be initiated, towards devising a statement providing guidance on protecting and fostering unrestricted user access to online content, applications and services, taking into consideration in particular the applicability of fundamental rights to the open Internet; public value; meaningful transparency and consumer choice / competition; due process; innovation imperatives; the question of illegal content; technical realities such as traffic congestion; and socio-economic benefits. The barriers to user access should be considered across all layers of the ICT value chain, from infrastructure to applications layers. This process should start and seek to establish an understanding among relevant stakeholders (ISPs, applications and content providers, users / civil society, legislators, regulators and governments) as a matter of urgency. Work feeding into this process would include in particular Norway’s Guidelines on Network Neutrality (http://www.npt.no/iKnowBase/Content/109604/Guidelines%20for%20network%20neutrality.pdf) and the Internet Rights and Principles Coalition (http://internetrightsandprinciples.org/).

2. Setting up a European Forum on Network Management and Non-Discrimination bringing together ISPs, regulators, users, applications providers, to understand latest trends, implications for the market, for network investment and for innovation; technological realities; and exchange and agreement / commitment on best practices / guidelines. This could be done in parallel or together with the Council of Europe-hosted cooperative working group.

3. The EBU and related stakeholders should continue to work around quality content: what it means; how to produce it; the role and potential of user created content; how to diffuse (quality) content as widely as possible, in particular by removing barriers which could include re-examining licensing and copyright obstacles.

4. The digital divide and disability dimension of the issues should also be recognised in the discussion, and relevant links with related IGF work be made, such as the APC-produced Global Information Society report on Access to Content.

Summary of Workshop 1

Possibly the main theme of the workshop was that of net neutrality.

Participants were keen to define what this concept actually means for them – referring instead / more precisely (following the Norwegian guidelines on network neutrality) to users’ access without discrimination (in detail: users’ ability to access, use and distribute the (legal) content, services and applications of their choice without discrimination.)

- All agreed that it is crucial is to provide fair and equal access to the Internet and the content that runs over it.
- As convergence translates into a rapid evolution of business models, an important concern going forwards would be to ensure that quality content continues to be generated and distributed over the Internet, by both public and commercial broadcasters – which could also a likely cure to piracy.
- In this perspective, most panellists stressed that we should ensure the openness of the Internet, in the interest of users, but also of content providers: content is worthless if users are prevented to access it. This was also described as being in line with existing human rights law.
- The new EU regulatory Framework for telecoms, if finalised in the current way, lays down basic principles, including transparency of access, non-discrimination and combating abuses to competition, possibility to lay down rules.
- But all participants noted that regulation or legislation should be introduced with caution. A multi-stakeholder approach, such as that developed in Norway with the ensuing adoption by all stakeholders of network neutrality guidelines.

Follow-up:

- ‘Concept of stakeholder / cooperative regulation’: we need an ongoing debate on management of the Internet. European Forum on Network Management bringing together ISPs, regulators, users, applications providers, to understand latest trends, implications for the market, for network investment and for innovation; technological realities; and exchange and agreement / commitment on best practices / guidelines. [the CoE and EBU should offer to host this Forum, perhaps with the support of the European Commission]

- CoE needs to consider further and formally the relation between the open Internet (end-users’ access to Internet content, services and applications) and fundamental rights (freedom of expression, communication and information), issuing guidance as relevant, such as a standard-setting document.