---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: La Quadrature du Net <[email protected]> Date: Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 6:43 PM Subject: [opennetcoalition] EU Parliament Massively Commits to Net Neutrality and Open Internet To: [email protected] La Quadrature du Net - For immediate release Permanent link: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/eu-parliament-massively-commits-to-net-neutr... EU Parliament Massively Commits to Net Neutrality and Open Internet *** Paris, November 17th, 2011 – The European Parliament today massively adopted its resolution on Net neutrality, calling on the EU Commission to protect the open Internet, which is put at risk by an increasing number of restrictions imposed by telecoms operators. This overall positive resolution urges EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes to depart from her failed wait-and-see approach by rapidly assessing the need for further regulation to keep the Internet open and free. This votes represent a political commitment by the European Parliament to protecting the Internet from any form of restriction or censorship. *** The EU Parliament's adoption of a resolution on Net neutrality [1] by a massive majority comes at a timely moment, as the EU Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes keeps denying [2] the illegitimate restrictions to Internet access imposed by operators that are reported all over Europe, as evidenced by the citizen platform RespectMyNet. This vote is also a signal sent to BEREC – the body of EU telecoms regulators, which is expected to soon release its anticipated study on Net neutrality violations [3] – as the Members of the EU Parliament point to the dangers of access restrictions for freedom of communication, as well as competition and innovation in the digital economy. Even though the resolution contains loopholes [4], it is a strong political statement in favour of an open Internet. In particular, the Parliament requires the Commission to swiftly assess the need for further regulation to protect Net neutrality, as soon as BEREC concludes its fact-finding exercise [5]. “EU telecoms operators already violate Net neutrality in large numbers [6] by illegitimately restricting Internet access. If Commissioner Neelie Kroes is really committed to defending freedom of expression, as she has claimed in the past, she must act accordingly by imposing Net neutrality by law, as was done in the Netherlands. Today's massive vote by EU Parliament certainly increases the pressure on the Commission to effectively guarantee competition and innovation as well as citizens' freedom of expression and privacy online. As the EU Parliament commits to defending the Net's openness, it should now act by further pushing for an effective regulation and rejecting any attempt at imposing Internet access restrictions or censorship in the name of an obsolete copyright regime, such as ACTA.”, said Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson of citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net. * References * 1. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B7-2011-... 2. See Mrs. Kroes' recent declaration against the Dutch Net neutrality law: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/regulation/2011/10/03/kroes-attacks-dutch-net-ne... 3. Release of the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications' (BEREC) study on Internet traffic management practices is expected for February 2012. 4. See our short analysis of the text, published just after the committee vote last month: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/net-neutrality-resolution-adopted-in-eu-parl... 5. The resolution “calls on the Commission consequently to guard that Internet Service Providers do not block, discriminate against, impair, or degrade the ability of any person to use a service to access, use, send, post, receive, or offer any content, application, or service of their choice irrespective of source or target” 6. See: http://www.respectmynet.eu ** About la Quadrature du Net ** La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that promotes the rights and freedoms of citizens on the Internet. More specifically, it advocates for the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge. In addition to its advocacy work, the group also aims to foster a better understanding of legislative processes among citizens. Through specific and pertinent information and tools, La Quadrature du Net hopes to encourage citizens' participation in the public debate on rights and freedoms in the digital age. La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, European and international NGOs including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society Institute and Privacy International. List of supporting organisations: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-la-quadrature-du-net ** Press contact and press room ** Jérémie Zimmermann, [email protected], +33 (0)615 940 675 http://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room _______________________________________________ Opennetcoalition mailing list [email protected] http://laquadrature.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/opennetcoalition -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens