[P2P-F] Fwd: [opennetcoalition] Only a Few Hours Left to Save the Internet!

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: La Quadrature du Net <contact at laquadrature.net>
Date: Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 5:59 AM
Subject: [opennetcoalition] Only a Few Hours Left to Save the Internet!
To: opennetcoalition at laquadrature.net


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+A7-2014-0190+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

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 **

contact at laquadrature.net, +33 (0) 972 294 426

https://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room




_______________________________________________
Opennetcoalition mailing list
Opennetcoalition at laquadrature.net
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/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.ourproject.org/pipermail/p2p-foundation/attachments/20140402/e0761444/attachment.htm