---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: La Quadrature du Net <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 5:59 AM Subject: [opennetcoalition] Only a Few Hours Left to Save the Internet! To: [email protected] Themes: NET NEUTRALITY, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, EUROPEAN SINGLE MARKET FOR ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS, PILAR DEL CASTILLO VERA, JENS ROHDE, CATHERINE TRAUTMANN, NEELIE KROES La Quadrature du Net - For immediate release Permanent link: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/only-a-few-hours-left-to-save-the-internet Only a Few Hours Left to Save the Internet! *** Brussels, 2 April 2014 -- In a few hours the European Parliament will vote on the regulation [1] concerning the European single market for electronic communications. This vote in plenary will be the most important vote on the rights and freedoms of citizens since the rejection of ACTA in July 2012. With the right amendments adopted, this text will put in place solid measures that protect Net Neutrality throughout the European Union. These have been tabled [2][3] but their adoption depends on a small number of votes, especially of those in the liberal group (ALDE). The outcome of the vote will either be the protection of competiton, innovation, users freedom of choice, and the freedom of expression and information or signal the end of the Internet as we know it. *** The number of parliamentarians in the groups that tabled the amendments adds to 372 [4] votes which almost represents an absolute majority in the 766-seat [5] European Parliament. With the support of independents [6] and some representatives from the centre-right EPP group, these amendments can therefore pass. Unfortunately, although ALDE tabled positive amendments, it is not certain that the whole group will vote in favour. Despite recommendations by civil society organisations, for instance those of La Quadrature du Net, parliamentarians, faced with important efforts by the lobby of big telecom and even by the European Commission, might be swayed to vote against the interest of the wider citizenry and small and medium entreprises [7]. In other words, every single vote is important tomorrow! This close to the European elections, parliamentarians are particularly receptive to citizens' messages - especially so as the vote tomorrow is recorded. Every call, email, fax could make the difference and lead to the real protection of the Internet and network neutrality. To your pi-phones [8] therefore to profit from the last remaining hours! * References * 1. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A7-2... 2. https://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Voting_List_1st_Plenary_Net_Neutrality 3. Similar amendments have been tabled by the Social-Democrats (S&D), the Greens (Greens/EFA), the United Left (GUE/NGL) and by the Liberals (ALDE). 4. 195 Social-Democrats (S&D), 84 Liberals (ALDE), 58 Greens (Greens/EFA), and 35 from the United Left (GUE/NGL). 5. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/crosstable.html 6. 32 parliamentarians are Non-Attached Members (NA). 7. http://startupsfornetneutrality.org/ 8. htps://piphone.lqdn.fr ** About La Quadrature du Net ** La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that defends 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 ** [email protected], +33 (0) 972 294 426 https://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room _______________________________________________ Opennetcoalition mailing list [email protected] https://laquadrature.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/opennetcoalition -- *Please note an intrusion wiped out my inbox on February 8; I have no record of previous communication, proposals, etc ..* P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/