Vaizey seeks to clarify on net neutrality

Communications minister Ed Vaizey has said his speech on network neutrality last week was misinterpreted and that he is in favour of net neutrality.

Vaizey referred in his speech to the possibility of a “market where consumers and content providers could choose to pay for differing levels of quality of service” and emphasized the importance of ISPs remaining “free to innovate”.

However, Vaizey told the Guardian newspaper that “don’t block input” to the internet was his “first principle” and that his views were in line with those of internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee, who is a long-standing advocate of net neutrality.