---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: La Quadrature du Net <[email protected]> Date: Tue, May 24, 2011 at 2:49 PM Subject: [opennetcoalition] “eG8 forum”: Governments and Corporations United to Control the Net To: [email protected] La Quadrature du Net - For immediate release Permanent link: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/eg8-forum-governments-and-corporations-united... “eG8 forum”: Governments and Corporations United to Control the Net *** Paris, May 24th, 2011 – The “eG8 forum” is a smokescreen behind which hides an alarming alliance of governments attempting to control the Internet and a few corporations making profits from restricting online freedoms [1]. *** Governmental attempts to control the Internet are multiplying in all geographical areas: the US Governments' reaction to Wikileaks and takedowns of domain names in the name of copyright; the Egyptian black-out of the Net; censorship of web content happening all over Europe; the talks of creating a “Great European firewall”, the ACTA agreement turning Internet service providers into a private copyright police, etc. At the same time, giant companies are increasingly developping business models based on restricting fundamental freedoms: Networks equipment vendors who sell the hardware that allow repressive regime across the world to censor their citizens' online communications; telecoms operators who try to take revenge on the universal Internet by attacking network neutrality; massive centralized online services that collect, agregate, sell and leak personnal data; entertainment industries who stubbornly fight the sharing of culture between individuals to force them into passive consumption. “Governments seem to have given up protecting citizens' rights against corporations engaging in noxious business. They have entered an alliance with some of these companies, united in the fear of the new capabilities afforded to individuals by the Internet and computers. The eG8 stages a show where a government living outside of the Internet civilization hopes to appear connected to it by being seen on photographs and TV with a few sectoral business leaders. It would only be pathetic if it wasn't the smokescreen for dangerous threats on citizens' freedoms and attempts to take over our beloved universal online space.” declares Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder and spokesperson for the citizen organization La Quadrature du Net. * Références * 1. Every plenary and workshop at the “eG8 forum” is mostly filled with the event's corporate sponsors or officials from the French Government. The few folding chairs, hastily added for a few members of “the civil society”, will not fool anyone. ** 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 : http://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-squaring-net-la-quadrature-du-ne... ** 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