Not so long ago, we struck down the ACTA treaty and stopped the censorship
laws SOPA/PIPA. And now another attack on the freedoms that we hold dear
is in the horizon. This time it is directed on what is called the Net
Neutrality.
Net neutrality (also network
neutrality or Internet neutrality) is the principle that Internet
service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally,
not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform,
application, type of attached equipment, and modes of communication. In other
words, you can access anything on the internet, without someone else limiting
or stopping your access to it.
This needs to stop; otherwise the
face of the Internet will change forever, in a very ugly way.
The first thing we should all do,
is to join Avaaz in their petition to the EU and U.S decision makers. They address
them by saying:
We urge you to use your power to stop a two-tiered Internet for the rich and ensure that all data traffic is treated equally. Allowing service providers to prioritise certain content and act as gatekeepers will undermine the democratic and open nature of the Internet. We count on you to show true global leadership and stand strong for Net Neutrality.
The link to the Avaaz petition: http://www.avaaz.org/en/internet_apocalypse_loc/?fBhbybb&pv=42
The next steps that we must take
are explained in this website: http://savetheinternet.eu/en/
And keep in mind that much of
what is on the internet is based on the U.S or in the countries in the European
Union, so we are all affected. Also, don’t forget, as John Stuart Mill wrote in
his book On Liberty, “a person may cause evil to others not only by his actions
but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for
the injury.” And that is why we must all act.
More to read:
5 Major the Internet Will Change
Without Net Neutrality http://abcnews.go.com/Business/major-ways-internet-change-net-neutrality/story?id=21541399
EU Telecoms market reforms
threaten net neutrality and privacy http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-11/19/eu-telecoms-reform-concerns
Summary of the Body of European
Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) positions on net neutrality http://berec.europa.eu/files/document_register_store/2012/12/BoR_%2812%29_146_Summary_of_BEREC_positions_on_net_neutrality2.pdf
