[A2k] URGENT - Call for signatures - Open Letter for Net Neutrality

[Jérémie ZIMMERMANN - La Quadrature du Net]

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Hello everyone!

After a lengthy iterative process, we included many observations in what
we consider a final version of the following open letter :

http://www.co-ment.net/text/1534/

Any "important" NGO or company who would like to sign it should send an
email to signature@laquadrature.net (before wednesday evening).

- From then :

- - We will publish it with a first round of signatories, send it to the
MEPs and to the media on thursday morning.

- - Then we will open a broader signature process, with a web form, so we
can try to gather a big number of supports.

I am available to answer any of your questions.



j


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We Must Protect Net Neutrality in Europe!

Open letter to the European Parliament.


(To co-sign this letter as an NGO or company, send an email to
signature@laquadrature.net)


Net neutrality has been an indispensable catalyst of competition,
innovation, and fundamental freedoms in the digital environment. A
neutral Internet ensures that users face no conditions limiting access
to applications and services. Likewise, it rules out any discrimination
against the source, destination or actual content of the information
transmitted over the network.

Thanks to this principle, our society collectively built the Internet as
we know it today. Except in some authoritarian regimes, everyone around
the globe has access to the same Internet, and even the smallest
entrepreneurs are on equal footing with the leading global enterprises.
Moreover, Net neutrality stimulates the virtuous circle of a development
model based on the growth of a common communication network that enables
new uses and tools, as opposed to one relying on investments in
filtering and controlling. Only under such conditions is Internet
continuously improving our societies, enhancing freedom -- including the
freedom of expression and communication -- and allowing for more
efficient and creative markets.

However, Net neutrality is now under the threat of telecom operators and
content industries that see business opportunities in discriminating,
filtering or prioritizing information flowing through the network. All
around Europe, this kind of discriminatory practices, detrimental to
both consumers and innovation, is emerging. No court or regulator seems
to have adequate tools to counter these behaviors and preserve the
general interest. Some dispositions introduced in the Telecoms Package
could even encourage such practices.

We who have signed this open letter urge the European Parliament to
protect the freedom to receive and distribute content, and to use
services and applications without interference from private actors. We
call on the Members of the Parliament to take decisive action during the
ongoing negotiation of the Telecoms Package in order to guarantee a
free, open and innovative Internet, and to safeguard the fundamental
freedoms of European citizens.


- --
- ---  La Quadrature du Net --- http://www.laquadrature.net


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