[Datenschleuder] [54]    Quotenregelung für's Internet?

Quotenregelung für's Internet? BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1996 MAR 1 (NB) - The European Commission (EQ is working on a series of proposals that will impose controls on the Internet, Newsbytes has learned. The pan-European controls being designed aim to limit new multimedia services on the Internet, forcing the "broadcasters" to ensure that the material they are handling is legal and decent. Perhaps more importantly, the proposals seek to impose the same controls on Internet services as with general broadcast services, such as TV transmissions. These controls mandate that 51 percent of the "transmissions" originate from within the EC. The extension of existing broadcast and transmission proposals to embrace the Internet neatly sidesteps the problem of starting a complete new set of laws relating to the Intemet. It could also speed up the time taken to push such legislation through the European Parliament. The proposals have upset the European broadcasting community, as well as some Internet service providers. A coalition of some 40 organizations is now lobbying the EC to try and persuade MEP (Members of the European Parliament) from legislating on broadcast and multimedia services. Although the aim of the proposals is to lessen the number of times that non-EC TV programming, such as Prisoner Cell Block H, Neighbors and Beverley Hills 90210, is shown on European TV channels, the effect on Internet service providers (ISPs) could be to limit the US output on the Internet, including Usenet messages, to European users of the Internet, unless the ISPs can show that at least 51 percent of the "programs" on the Internet originate from within the EC itself. [Press Contact: European Commission +32-2-299-1111]

[Datenschleuder] [54]    Quotenregelung für's Internet?