***Newflash - despite Vivane Reding's stinging rebuke, the Commission has tonight approved the new telecoms rules . And most recent leak indicates the proposal remains negative for users. ***

Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Justice, did not mince her words when she launched a stinging attack on her old DG over proposals for the economically-powerful telecoms industry. Mrs Reding - who knows what she is talking about as she led the 2009 Telecoms Package - said that the right to freedom of expression is put at risk by the draft Telecoms Regulation. Mrs Reding's comments come as a sharp rebuke to her long- term colleague and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes.

Read more: Reding tackles Kroes: new EU telecoms law puts free speech at risk

If you care about the Internet, you should care about this. The leaked draft of the new Telecoms Regulation is the Telecoms Package 'MkII'. But unlike its predecessor, it contains legal twists that create some mega- horrors. Whoever wins this argument in the Commission will determine who runs the networks and how for the next decade.

EU Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, has taken a lashing from rival DG Competition over her proposed shake-up of the telecoms market . The attack on Mrs Kroes draft policy suggess an internal fight over the aims and scope of the Regulation, which was leaked last month by European Digital Rights. But an investigation of Commission documents suggests that she has not yet firmed up her plans and is exposed to rival demands from other Commissioners . The possibility of splits in the Commission over the Regulation came to light in

Read more: EU rifts over how far to push new telecoms rules - DG Comp attacks Kroes

It's a reprise of the Telecoms Package from 2009. It drips and gushes controversial measures that will drive stakes through the entire telecoms infrastructure - not just net neutrality. And it seems the Commission is suffering a severe dose of memory loss.

According to a leaked draft of new legislation, the European Comission is planning to make sweeping changes to the Telecoms Framework that will, inter alia, impact on the Internet. This is the draft Regulation 'laying down measures to complete the European single market for electronic communications and to achieve a Connected Continent". It was leaked at the beginning of the month by the European Digital Rights group (EDRi) and, despite the innocuous sounding title, it pushes open a Pandora's box of controversies. It's a real horror.

Read more: EU midsummer horror: leaked draft of new Telecoms Regulation

She's more like Miss Jean Brodie than the Iron Lady. Yet the European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, 'Steelie' Neelie Kroes, lived up to her nickname last week when she ripped up a prepared speech on the telecoms single market. Instead, she gave the strongest sign yet that the European Commission could choose to guarantee net neutrality. What is going on? Iptegrity has had sight of her binned speech.

Read more: Why did Steelie Neelie tear up the telecoms agenda?

Her spinmeisters are doing their best to create an upbeat image for Commissioner Kroes. But even if she is endowed with all of Hogwarts' magic, net neutrality will be tough trick to pull off.

Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, dropped a surprise when she spoke to the European Parliament this week. Mrs Kroes, who is nickneamed Steelie Neelie, might as well have dropped a bomb. She indicated that the European Commission will propose a guarantee for net neutrality in legislation forthcoming later this year.

Read more: Steelie Neelie brandishes the net neutrality wand

The European Parliament has made a resounding call for net neutrality to be protected, in two separate votes this week. The votes do not create any new laws, but they do send a strong message to the European Commission which is working on draft laws for copyright and traffic management.

Read more: European Parliament calls for positive laws on net neutrality

There is a lot of mis-information about the ITU summit in Dubai these two weeks. Much of it may be coming from people, especially those in the US, who have some kind of interest in the outcome.

What the ITU does give us, however, is a global stage on which to play out the realpolitik politics of telecoms. There is much we can learn about how the power base has shifted. In this post, I explain what I think is happening.

Read more: WCIT-12: ITU and the realpolitik of telecoms

Probably the most scary document I have ever read.

It's a technical document written for engineers. Its aim is to translate the customer requirements, as passed to them by their commercial colleagues, in order to set a standard for the industry, so that all of the equipment from different manufacturers will work together. Customers - the ISPs and network providers - will have the choice of competitive product offers, safe in the knowledge that they don't have to change out all of their equipment.

Read more: The ITU's DPI standard - that's something to be afraid of!

The EU and the US go head-to-head with Arab and African states over "free" telecoms markets. But what does this proposal really mean for the Internet?

As the 2012 World Congress of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) - also known as the WCIT-2012 - got underway this week, and deep political fissures are looming over the future of the Internet, with an EU-US axis directly opposed to an Arab-African alliance. The conflict was provoked by proposals tabled by the European telco organisation ETNO, but appears to have evolved.

Read more: WCIT-2012: ITU scrap heats up over toxic Internet proposals

The European Commission's traffic management (net neutrality) consultation suggests regulation of deep packet inspection, but how does that square with its obvious industry bias?

The European Commission wants to know if it should regulate deep packet inspection (DPI) on the public Internet. In a consultation that closed today, labelled as 'net neutrality', the Commission asked a range of questions about how ISP use traffic management, a technology which is dependent on deep packet inspection techniques. But how skewed is the questionaire towards the industry position? Is it just a codification of the debate from the Telecoms Package? To whom will the answers be most useful?

Read more: EU asks: should we regulate deep packet inspection?