[P2P-F] Fwd: [opennetcoalition] Day Seven Before The Vote to Save Net Neutrality! Parliamentarians Must Protect The Open Internet!

Thu Mar 27 15:17:50 CET 2014

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: La Quadrature du Net <contact at laquadrature.net>
Date: Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 7:56 AM
Subject: [opennetcoalition] Day Seven Before The Vote to Save Net
Neutrality! Parliamentarians Must Protect The Open 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:
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/day-seven-before-the-vote-to-save-net-neutrality-parliamentarians-must-protect-the-open-internet

Day Seven Before The Vote to Save Net Neutrality! Parliamentarians Must
Protect The Open Internet!

*** Paris, 27 March 2014 -- Next week, on 3 April, Members of the European
Parliament will vote on the future of Net Neutrality and the open Internet
in Europe. After years of struggle across the European Union, either solid
legal protections for the freedom of expression and innovation online will
be introduced or telecom operators will be given free reign to discriminate
between online communications and use this to force out competition. In
light of approaching European elections [1], citizens must call on [2]
their representatives to vote in favour of the protection of fundamental
rights and the internet as we know it. ***

This vote comes after five years of struggle for Net Neutrality. In the
coming days, telecom lobbies and the European Commission will attempt to
lean on the European Parliament as much as possible to get their version of
the text passed. To counter this, and, considering the current political
balance in the Parliament and the nature of preceding votes [3] in
committees, only a strong and sustained citizen mobilisation will be able
to convince a majority of MEPs to prevent the death of the open Internet
and to break party lines if need be. The adoption of "Marco Civil da
Internet" [4] this week by the Brazilian Congress reaffirms the importance
of Net Neutrality for the rights of citizens and sends a strong signal to
the European Parliament to defend the same values.

The right time to act is now. Citizens across the European Union must
contact [5] their representatives and call on them to vote for the positive
amendments [6] tabled by the Social-Democrats (S&D), the Greens
(Greens/EFA), the United Left (GUE/NGL) and by the Liberals [7] (ALDE).
With these amendments adopted, the text would enshrine the principle of Net
Neutrality effectively and prohibit all forms of discrimination. Moreover,
two important loopholes would be closed: neither the notion of "specialised
services" nor contractual exemptions accorded to deal with network
congestion, could be exploited to circumvent the principle of Net
Neutrality.

"All citizens concerned by the threat to the open Internet, freedom of
expression and innovation online must contact their MEPs and call on them
to vote in favour of Net Neutrality. The battle on the 3 April will either
mark an unprecedented advance towards the protection of our fundamental
rights, or mark the final days of the open Internet as we know it. We
defeated ACTA, now we mobilise to safe our Internet! Particularly
considering the approaching European elections, every call, email and fax
can make the difference and help MEPs resist the telecom lobbying [8] at
this sensitive phase of the legislative process" concluded Félix Tréguer,
co-founder of the association La Quadrature du Net.

* References *

1. http://wepromise.eu/

2. http://savetheinternet.eu/

3.
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/net-neutrality-dangerous-loopholes-remain-after-key-vote-by-lead-eu-parliament-committee

4.
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/gigaom-brazilian-lawmakers-approve-bill-of-online-rights-minus-local-storage-requirements

5. https://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/How_to_contact_a_MEP

6. http://laquadrature.net/files/Plenary%20amdmts%20on%20NN.pdf

7. The amendments tabled by ALDE are identical on the key points to the
amendments tabled by other groups:
https://laquadrature.net/files/Plenary%20amdmts%20on%20NN%20-%20ALDE.doc

8.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303725404579461281958053934

** 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

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-- 
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