The creator of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, has pushed for changes to a proposed European Parliament law that he believes could hinder the treatment of online traffic.
On Monday Berners-Lee urged politicians in Europe to “save the internet” by defending the concept of fair treatment of online traffic, ahead of an important vote due to take place in France next Tuesday morning.
This week the European Parliament is set to decide on key legislation governing the future openness of the internet in Europe.
Berners-Lee said he built the Internet as an open network and in a blog post on Monday stated that if the amendments are not made “Europe’s ability to lead in the digital economy is at stake.”
Berners-Lee is not the only one asking MEPs to adopt these amendments, as an open letter directed to them on Sunday signed by internet companies including Netflix, Reddit, Tumblr, Etsy and BitTorrent urged them to adopt the amendments.
The letter referenced the Open Internet Order which was reached early this year following a similar debate in the US, asking the European Parliament to ensure that companies around the world are granted similar protections when operating online in Europe.