And dykes
The former Dutch telecoms monopolist KPN made a big mistake last year when it tried to force mobile users pay extra for data used by certain third-party apps, such as WhatsApp and Skype.
In response, the Dutch parliament quickly added net neutrality provisions to its telecommunications law which were approved yesterday. The law, makes the Netherlands the second country in the world (after Chile) with net neutrality written into statute.
The new law also forces websites to ask users for permission before cookies can be stored in their browsers, although this does not have to be enacted until 2013.
It is brilliant for the Internet in Holland but was really bad for KPN which quickly backpeddled on its charge plans. The new law requires companies providing access to the Internet to treat all Internet services equally. They cannot favour their own services, nor charge extra to access a competitor's service.
KPN fixed its finance problems by drastically increasing the price of 3G data plans although in comparison to other countries, such as Italy they are not that bad.
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Nick Farrell
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