A Comparative Inquiry into Internet Neutrality in South Africa

Abstract

This dissertation will examine the question of whether internet neutrality is protected within the current South African legal framework and secondly whether or not internet neutrality should be protected when considering the policy advantages and disadvantages that it presents.

Due to the fact that the arguments in support as well as against internet neutrality fundamentally originate from broadly two different and distinct philosophical approaches, this paper starts off with a historical analysis of the development of the internet. This is followed by a discussion of the nature of rights vis-à-vis the question of whether access to the internet can be considered as a fundamental human and/or legal right.

After discussing both the history of the internet and the nature of rights in the context of the subject matter of this paper, the paper turns to the policy of internet neutrality itself. The paper compares the differing approaches followed by firstly the USA and secondly the EU with regards to internet neutrality, specifically in relation to consumer rights, competition law and corporate transparency.

At the end of the paper, current South African consumer rights protection and competition law are analysed in order to determine whether or not the existing regulations afford adequate protect against potential abuses of data discrimination by ISPs.

The debate regarding internet neutrality potentially affects each and every jurisdiction throughout the world where internet users accesses the internet. Not only is internet neutrality therefore a policy consideration all over the world but the policy consideration is one that should be answered through multidisciplinary research and inputs. It is therefore important to note that this research paper is written from a legal perspective and is merely a contribution to a policy question (namely that of internet neutrality) that has to be considered through the lenses of various academic fields.