Major European Parliament vote on the internet on 18 March

joeyjojo

joeyjojo

joeyjojo

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Some of you may be aware that there is currently a proposal working its way around EU committees on regulation of the telecoms market. The trouble is, it's been written in such a way that net neutrality is in danger, and it gives ISPs the opportunity to block whatever they like with no court involvement, and charge more for specific services (e.g. specific video websites).

The proposal has been around the houses and is going to be voted on next week!


If you've got a few minutes please follow the link below and call an MEP or two. The "Goals" section explains which articles need deleting or clarifying.

http://savetheinternet.eu/

You can call the MEPs in the ITRE committee using this freephone service: http://piphone.lqdn.fr/campaign/call2/NetNeutrality-ITRE-nov_13/7186
The above link also explains the ammendments of Trautmann vs. Vera, including a handy comparison table. This is great to refer to when making your argument.

Let us know who you called and how it went.

Edit 4 April:

Net neutrality law adopted by European Parliament

Woohoo!
 
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Allnamestaken said:
They shouldnt even be allowed to vote on things like this.

The public has NO say.... false democracy!!
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The public does have a say we elect MEP's to represent our views if your MEP doesn't represent your views tell them and don't vote for them. No country in the world has a direct democracy and it simply wouldn't work.
 
Little update, I've tried calling Vicky Ford (Conservative MEP for East England) but the free PiPhone thingy isn't connecting me. I would prefer not to have to call a +32 number (Belgium) so will try again later.

The link below is really useful. We basically just have to get them to take Catherine Trautmann's version of the amendment over Pilar del Castillo Vera's.

http://piphone.lqdn.fr/campaign/call2/NetNeutrality-ITRE-nov_13/7186
 
a1ex2001 said:
The public does have a say we elect MEP's to represent our views if your MEP doesn't represent your views tell them and don't vote for them. No country in the world has a direct democracy and it simply wouldn't work.
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I dont think they should be allowed to vote on this type of stuff and stick their noses into peoples private lives with regards to this and other similar issues unless they specifically list out their proposed changes to the law and regulations in their manefesto at election time....This issue wasn't on anyones radar at the last election and therefore none of the public could have known it was coming and as such didn't take it into consideration in their vote. Whilst on a basic level I agree with your comment that we vote the muppets in and that is therefore 'our say,' in reality thats absolute rubbish.
 
eatcustard said:
I doubt your ISP will start to block websites (unless told by a judge) as they will soon lose customers
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exactly, this legislation almost seems to be bringing in a more open market vibe to ISPs saying they can charge more for high bandwidth apps and tailor packages to peoples needs. Obviously the negative bandwagon has got behind this and pointed out the possibility of abuse but to ignore the positive spin is equally stupid. Currently the majority of internet users are subsidising the bandwidth demands of a tiny minority so I'm all for a system where charges can be more equally divided!
 
Only contact MEPs who sit on the Industry Research and Energy committee otherwise your waisting your time.

I've sent an email to each of the UK MEPs that are on this committee.
 
Got an email back from Marina Yannakoudakis who is a Conservative MEP for London. However she doesnt sit on the ITRE committee.

Thank you for your email and your interest in the work Conservative MEPs are doing on the Connected Continent proposals for consumers.

My Conservative colleagues, Malcolm Harbour Chairman of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee and Giles Chichester Member of the Industry Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee, have been responsible for drafting legislation on this dossier.

Malcolm and Giles agree that the internet must not become dominated by the entrenched players and have sought to ensure that this does not become the case through limiting the use of specialised services. Their primary focus remains on ensuring that National Regulatory Authorities have adequate powers to address issues concerning consumer access and choice, and more importantly to prevent and address any latent problems with net neutrality. More specifically those powers could include the power to impose quality of service (QoS) obligations – to protect the quality of internet access services, and the power to impose access obligations – to require an ISP to provide a content provider with access to its end users and address concerns that may arise from blocking.

The final debate is far from over and Member State governments have yet to take their final position. However, please be assured that my colleagues and I are working hard in the Parliament to ensure an open internet.

As your London MEP I would be grateful to receive further comments and suggestions on this important issue. I have offices in London and in Brussels, and if there is anything else you would like to bring to my attention please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Best regards,

Marina Yannakoudakis, Conservative MEP for London

Conservative Women´s spokesman and member of the Women´ s Rights and Gender Equality committee of the European Parliament
Conservative Heath spokesman and member of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee of the European Parliament
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If anyone has any comments to add I'd be more than happy to forward them on to her.
 
I sincerely hope this doesn't go through it could destroy entrepreneurs without big backing. If the ISPs have the ability to penalise non paying traffic it would destroy the basis of the Internet in my opinion.

Many people refuse to use a slow service in this day and age.

While I can see the point of companies like Netflix eating terabytes of bandwith adding to costs it shouldn't be allowed to effect the small startups.

Could be another way to limit piracy sites that host movies/series most likly won't be allowed to pay for the service so they die off as well.
 
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If bringing these policies helps to speed up legitimate internet usage by stopping other uses, isn't it a good thing? I'm not saying I agree to censoring the internet, but I guess this is the first step towards censoring it or controlling it - which of course I'm not in favour of.

I am all for preventing/lowering illegal things that happen online though, but not at the cost of stifling innovation and new businesses from starting up.

It's a tough call.
 
I agree if used correctly it could help prevent illegitimate uses. However to put it in perspective I imagine a site like this could be in the firing line. Cuts into profits regardless of how much it is as such any company would look to cut costs. Could close 90% of the forum in order to keep the parts that add to profits whilst minimising the bandwith to lower costs.

Could prevent sites from innovating and going back to the old low bandwith days to save money.

I'd hate to see the Internet turn into tv like packages;

Forums package £5 extra per month
Would you like to see pictures on the net? Another £5pm please.


Completely hypothesised I have no clue what the pricing cut off points will be. Just scary to think how much it could be milked.
 
Nothing will happen. No one will stand up, the internet will get censored and freedom of speech will disappear.

No one in this country cares enough about anything any more.
 
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joeyjojo said:
Do you care? Have you made a phone call yet?
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Lets be frank, nothing stops greed.

People are naive if the belief that SOPA or whatever form it occurs as, will just disappear with a solitary, puny little act. The problem is that the opposition have the ability to drop nuclear options on everything with a very concentrated amount of power, while we the "people" require full cooperation to reach the same level of democratic ability.

This is something we as a species are somehow...not so good at when wealth is involved.

To be honest, i dont care anymore, my usage of the internet has reduced drastically, as i find it to be rather stale, but perhaps that's just growing up.
 
StriderX said:
To be honest, i dont care anymore, my usage of the internet has reduced drastically, as i find it to be rather stale, but perhaps that's just growing up.
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The Internet is like life. It's whatever you make of it and use it to your advantages.
 
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