Many proponents of an open Internet — including “father of the web” Tim Berners-Lee and prominent players like Google — have long argued that regulation is necessary to guarantee “Net neutrality” (the principle that ISPs deliver every site’s traffic without discrimination, so every site gets an equal slice of the available bandwidth). They fear that without it, telcos will prioritize data packets from services that have paid them a fee, while forcing others into a “slow lane.”

The EU is working on legislation to enshrine Net neutrality in European law. In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) introduced Net neutrality proposals last December, which still have not come into force due to wranglings with political opponents, although the Obama administration is committed to their introduction. Meanwhile, the recent e-G8 summit — despite featuring key players in the debate — failed to discuss the topic in any detail.

Opponents say prioritizing particular data packets may be desirable in some cases and that bandwidth providers should have the right to decide allocation.

Whatever the rights or wrongs of the debate, many global CIOs are more likely to be concerned about overbearing regulation — and a plethora of different laws applying in different territories — adding another burden to their already heavy workload of ensuring legal compliance.

Professor Lawrence Lessig, founder of the Creative Commons content licensing project and a Net neutrality advocate, has proposed a solution: “The answer is not a massive program of regulation but instead a very thin rule for broadband providers that forbids business models that favor scarcity over abundance.”