Deutsche Telekom wants to be able to bill providers of services generating high volumes of data for the use of internet infrastructure. According to dpa, the German Press Agency, Telekom CEO René Obermann told Manager Magazine, “Good internet services will necessarily involve costs at the end of the day.” If Telekom was to provide superior security or better quality of service for online music or video services, then these services ought to be “priced differently”.

The European Commission announced a EUR 6.4 billion investment package for research and innovation. EUR 1.2 billion are to go towards research and development in the ICT sector, which, according to the Commissions’ press release, “will help deliver the Commission's commitment on the Digital Agenda for Europe to maintain the pace of yearly increases in ICT funding.”

The European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education has published a draft opinion on "Sexual abuse and the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography". The paper presented by Petra Kammerevert of the German Social Democratic Party criticizes the European Commission’s policy on child pornography. Kammerevert favours the idea of deleting illegal content over blocking access to it, saying that “it is evident that the measures to block access to such content put in place by some Member States can be easily circumvented by users.“

One of Germany’s Internet pioneers is celebrating his 60th birthday, namely Prof Michael Rotert was instrumental in getting Germany connected to the Internet in 1984 and was the first person in Germany to receive an email. He founded the Internet Service Provider Xlink (later KPNQwest) and was co-founder of the Internet Society, DE-NIC, and several other online institutions.

Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s Federal Minister of the Interior, published “14 thoughts” on the future of the Internet. eco appreciates the careful consideration the minister gave his ideas, and the open-minded discussions preceding them. Several meetings with experts, industry representatives, members of prosecuting authorities, and Internet users helped the minister form an opinion based on a variety of inputs. Now would be a good time to develop a holistic strategy – rather than implement isolated measures.