After turning on an ISP-level ad blocking option by default—and after meeting Monday with French government officials—France’s second-largest ISP decided to temporarily suspend its controversial move for “two to three weeks” (Google Translate) until it’s able to reach a revenue agreement with Google.
Last week, Free quietly released a new update to its router (known as a Freebox) firmware, which installed an ad blocking feature. While many users use ad blocking on their own browsers or computers, this marked the first time any major ISP, anywhere, installed ad blocking at the ISP level.
Free has still not responded to Ars’ repeated requests for comment. Google also did not immediately respond.
The move was quickly dubbed “AdGate” by the French media, and it appears to have stemmed from a revenue dispute between Free and Google. In France, like in many places, ISPs have been getting upset with the search giant driving large amounts of traffic (most notably, YouTube) over their networks.
As we reported in June 2012, this is a battle that may sound familiar. In fact, it’s an argument that SBC (now AT&T) tried to make eight years ago. It’s an argument Verizon made in 2006. It’s an argument that European carriers tried to make against Apple and Google in 2010. It’s an argument that was repeated Stateside in 2011. More recently, it’s an argument Dutch ISP KPN tried to make in 2011 in the Netherlands—only to be later met with Europe’s first net neutrality law. In short, we wholeheartedly disagree with this entire line of reasoning.
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