Net neutrality might be a bit of a touchy subject in the United States, but progress is being made in Europe. The Netherlands has become the first country to enact net neutrality laws, preventing ISPs from blocking or slowing down different types of internet traffic. It also stops ISPs from charging extra to access specific websites or services. The legislation was first put forward in June 2011, but just passed into law on Tuesday.

There are some exceptions to the law: ISPs can manage traffic if the network is congested, but otherwise providers are expected to treat all traffic as equal. The Netherlands joins Chile as the second country in the world that has firm net neutrality laws, while other countries are still debating the topic.

In the UK, Ofcom has threatened to impose net neutrality on ISPs if they don’t offer more transparency regarding their throttling practises, and in the US several companies have come under fire. Most recently Comcast was scrutinized by net neutrality advocates, as well as Netflix, regarding its Xfinity service. Comcast internet users have a 250GB data cap per month, but the Xfinity video streaming service for Xbox did not count towards that total.

The FCC does have net neutrality rules in place, but they’re limited in scope. ISPs can’t charge for additional access to competitors services, but they’re not restricted from offering faster access to specific services.

[via The Next Web]

Source: http://www.slashgear.com/netherlands-passes-net-neutrality-laws-09227337/

10:45 a.m. | Updated 
The number of American households with access to a television set and a TV signal is shrinking for the second year in a row.

The data, released by The Nielsen Company on Thursday morning, is sure to be pored over by television and Internet executives for evidence of changes in consumer behavior.

While the vast majority of American homes still have functioning television sets, more than one million no longer meet Nielsen’s definition of a “TV household:” those that have at least one television set and a cable, satellite or antenna connection.

Last year, for the first time in 20 years, Nielsen said the number of such households had dropped to 114.7 million, from 115.9 million previously, despite a rise in the number of households in the country. On Thursday, Nielsen said the figure had dropped further, this time to 114.1 million.

The 2012 Webby Award winners will be honored at a gala in New York City on May 21. You can see a full list of this year’s nominees at WebbyAwards.com.

Source http://mashable.com/2012/05/01/16th-webby-award-winners/