In an open letter to European citizens, founder of the world wide web Sir Tim Berners-Lee urges the public to pay attention to net neutrality and the preservation of an open internet.

In response to what he says is a case of telecoms companies threatening not to invest in next-gen 5G mobile networks unless regulators ease up on restrictions, Berners-Lee said: “The public needs to tell regulators now to strengthen safeguards, and not cave in to telecommunications carriers’ manipulative tactics.”

Berners-Lee says there are four core areas that regulators need to get right for net neutrality to exist in Europe.

These include banning internet “fast lanes” allowing websites and apps that pay more to get preferential speeds; the practice of zero-rating should also be banned – this is essentially an exception on certain apps and services to count against a user’s data cap in exchange for a fee from the app or service provider to the telco.

It’s easy to see how this can lead to big companies being preferred by budget-conscious users while smaller start-ups don’t get a look in.

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