'No' to content gatekeeping by ISPs. A higher privacy barrier for copyright policing.

Two pieces of good news for the Internet have emerged from the EU in the past 7 days. They arise out of two entirely separate processes, but both indicate a mood of distaste for corporate control of the Internet. Last week, the European Parliament voted in favour of a net neutrality law; this week the European court of Justice ruled that a law on the collection of telephone and Internet metadata is invalid.

Read more: Net neutrality & data retention - Europe pushes back against a corporatised Internet

The duel between the telecoms industry and European citizens' advocates over net neutrality as the European Parliament prepares for a decisive vote. At stake is the very principle of net neutrality - will Europe be brave anough to enshrine it in law?

At stake is the entire future of the Internet in Europe. The telecoms operators have a plan that will totally disrupt the Internet as it stands, enabling them to charge both users and content owners provision of content services. Such charging would position the telecoms operators as the gatekeepers for content, and erode the public service nature of the Internet - if they are allowed to get away with it. The outcome of tomorrow's vote will be a determinant of what they can, or cannot, do.

Read more: EU Parliament net neutrality battle comes to a head

Does the Internet belong to corporations or to citizens? Who runs it? Who owns it? Who decides what's on it? Is it going to turn into a TV with a Facebook extra? All of this is at stake. It's a vote being forced by the telecoms industry, to spike any chance of Europe getting a net neutrality law after the Euro-elections. If this vote is lost, what can be done to save the Internet?

On Tuesday morning, the European Parliament will take a strategic vote for the future of the Internet as we know it. The law that is being voted on is the propsed new Telecoms REgulation, also known as the Regulation on a European single market for electronic communications and to achieve a Connected Continent. Inside the Parliament, the net neutrality issue is clearly the subject of a massive political fight, with over

Read more: Will the EU Parliament save the open Internet? Crucial vote on Tuesday

A back-room political compromise on net neutrality that is being quiety negotiated in the European Parliament is currently sitting on a knife-edge. It is the only element of the Telecoms Regulation (Connected Continent) that has not been agreed between the different party groups (as previously predicted by Iptegrity). The Committee vote is on Monday.

The big stakes are whether a telco-led agenda for priorised Internet services will be permitted. This agenda will also have serious implications for ordinary telephone services and how television is delivered. In addition, there are issues surrounding Neelie Kroes flagship anti-discrimination clause.

***Update Tuesday 25 February - the vote has been postponed until 10 March.***

Read more: The EU's net neutrality compromise - what does it really mean?

When even the experts are struggling, it should set off alarm bells. The net neutrality issue is hotting up in the European Parliament, but who really understands what is happening? It has been under scrutiny from the various committees and is now with the Industry committee for a vote in a couple of weeks time. The signs are that the rapporteur, Pilar Del Castillo, is being challenged, but there are concerning indications that MEPs will give in to amendments that put at risk not only the structure of the Internet, but of the whole telecoms market.

Read more: Net neutrality gets final scrutiny in EU Parliament - should we be alarmed?

An incontinent proposal?

The European Parliament is set to carve out vast swathes of the proposed Telecoms Regulation (Connected Continent). As it currently looks, Neelie Kroes once-sweeping proposal to re-structure Europe's telecoms markets will be reduced to not much more than 2 policy areas - spectrum and net neutrality. And now the Committee of the Regions has waded in with a proposal to post-pone the work on net neutrality too.

Read more: The Connected Continent carve-out: what will be left in new telecoms rules?

It's now becoming clear that the core issue for the Telecoms Regulation is the fight over the open Internet. In the most recent meeting of the European Parliament's Industry committee, Europe's telcos finally put their cards on the cable. Their hand includes a neat little torpedo that blows apart any claims by the European Commission that net neutrality will be protected.

Read more: EU telecoms rules - smokescreen lifts over telco specialised services

As the lead committee on the Telecoms Regulation, ITRE, will be sitting down to discuss it this afternoon, this posting postulates on the appropriate balance of providers and citizens, inspired by a couple of recent Canadian studies.

How far will Commissioner Kroes' new telecoms proposals rig the market in favour of large providers? That is a key policy issue at stake in the Telecoms Regulation (also known as Connected Continent proposals). With the Regulation now in the European Parliament, MEPs have a chance to debate and amend it. A related question, therefore, is how will they tackle the demands of the big providers and what kind of balance will they provide against citizens rights.

Read more: New EU telecoms rules - the shape of things to come

As the European Parliament begins work on the new Telecoms Regulation, there are early warning signals that the issue of net neutrality will be heavily fought over. It has emerged that the two big committees with responsibility for telecoms both wanted to take it on. There was a tussle between the two, and in the end, it was subject to higher level decision that gave net neutrality to the Industry committee. Moreover, it looks as though net neutrality will be one key element that

Read more: Net neutrality: a political football as telecoms rules begin legislative journey

Not quite murder on the dance floor, but murder in the committees, according to one observer.

It looks like the European Parliament could take a knife to parts of the proposed Telecoms Regulation (Connected Continent) if not its entirety. Iptegrity has followed the discussion in two committees this week - IMCO and ITRE - and it was abundantly clear that the Parliament does not like this proposal. Not quite murder perhaps, but elements of the proposal could be killed off.

Read more: EU Parliament threat to knife new telecoms rules