Europe Moves Towards Protection of Net Neutrality for Now
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-04-04 11:55:34 UTC
- Modified: 2014-04-04 11:55:34 UTC
Mostly chronological:
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, citizens must call on their representatives to vote in favour of the protection of fundamental rights and the internet as we know it.
A few days before the vote that will decide the future of Net Neutrality and the Internet commons in Europe, La Quadrature du Net calls on all Members of the European Parliament to support the amendments proposed by the Social-Democrats (S&D), the Greens (Greens/EFA), the United Left (GUE/NGL) and the Liberals1 (ALDE). These amendments contain strong provisions to protect freedom of expression and freedom of information online, reassert the principle of fair competition and guarantee that users may freely choose between services online. From now until 3 April, citizens should urge their representatives to support this cross-party package of amendments in order to preserve the Internet commons.
The battle to preserve the open internet is reaching its final stage, with the big European Parliament vote taking place on April 3rd. The report adopted by the Industry Committee two weeks ago includes provisions undermining the principle of net neutrality, putting the open internet and freedom of speech at risk. The good news is that four political groups have tabled proposals for final vote that would prevent discrimination and enshrine real net neutrality in law. Now it is up to our representatives to choose – openness and competition or closed, uncompetitive networks.
The European Parliament took a major step towards enshrining net neutrality in law today, when the EU Parliament voted yes to a new Regulation for a Telecommunications Single Market.
Today the European Parliament adopted in first reading the Regulation on the Single Telecoms Market (see the vote call). By amending the text with the amendment proposals made by the Social-Democrats (S&D), Greens (Greens/EFA), United Left (GUE/NGL) and Liberals (ALDE), the Members of the European Parliament took a historic step for the protection of Net Neutrality and the Internet commons in the European Union. La Quadrature du Net warmly thanks all citizens, organisations and parliamentarians who took part in this campaign, and calls on them to remain mobilised for the rest of the legislative procedure.
Earlier this month, the U.S. government surprised the Internet community by announcing that it plans to back away from its longstanding oversight of the Internet domain name system. The move comes more than 15 years after it first announced plans to transfer management of the so-called IANA function, which includes the power to add new domain name extensions (such as dot-xxx) and to alter administrative control over an existing domain name extension (for example, approving the transfer of the dot-ca domain in 2000 from the University of British Columbia to the Canadian Internet Registration Authority).
Recent Techrights' Posts
- How Back Doors Became the 'Normal' or 'Norm'
- "We also allowed a lethal monoculture to fester"
- Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part III - The SRA is Vastly Worse Than Brits Realise, We Have a "Wild West" in London
- In the next part we'll begin looking at correspondence with the SRA
- SRA and Manslaughter: How the SRA Contributed to Agony in Proprietary Software Scandals With Clear Misuse of "Without Prejudice"
- Trying to prevent the public from finding out the criminal stuff that went on, resulting in many deaths
- Canonical (or Ubuntu) Rejecting IRC Isn't the Widespread Trend
- Internet Relay Chat (IRC) adoption still growing by some yardsticks
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 173 Out of 200: Two Years
- It was exactly 2 years ago that we filed lawsuits against Garrett
- Linux of America
- We could not help but notice GNU/Linux in North America yesterday
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 05, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, September 05, 2026
- Gemini Links 06/09/2026: Internet Limiting (Limited Time Allotted) and Solar MiniServer
- Links for the day
- Eight Months of Strikes in EPO, Organised by the Staff Union (SUEPO) Also in Berlin
- In Berlin, only one member of staff voted against the action plan
- Links 05/09/2026: "Let’s Stop Buying New Phone" and 'Open' 'AI' (Proprietary Slop) Drowning in Lawsuits
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 05/09/2026: Polarization, Warped Maps, and Emacs rectangle-number-lines
- Links for the day
- Software Freedom, Even If Difficult to Attain Due to Outside Pressure, Does Make You Happier
- Peer pressure and opinionated employers can make friends and staff more miserable if they dictate bad software
- You Can Run GNU/Linux on a Desktop/Laptop for 1,000+ Days Nonstop
- To me, the long uptime is a way of "marketing" GNU/Linux as robust and stable
- Profiting From Global Warming (and Making More Money the More You Cause Warming)
- Unregulated bank and pyramid scheme
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 172 Out of 200: The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Complicit in the SLAPPs by Inaction (Didn't Even Study Any Evidence, Only Wasted Time and Budget)
- "SRA placed into special measures due to 'disappointing standard of leadership'"
- China Does Not Need American (US) Products Like GAFAM's
- China has abundance of technical things it can leverage to preserve its autonomy
- RMS Didn't Make Enough Backups
- Making backups is important
- Refresher: Why EPO Staff is on Strike This Year (Aside From the EPO Acting Like a Corrupt, Above-the-Law, For-Profit Corporation That Violates Its Own Charter)
- One core issue at the EPO is erosion of purchasing power
- Gemini Links 05/09/2026: Fireflies, Shore Pine, and ASCII Art
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 04, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, September 04, 2026
- The Legal Services Board (LSB) Takes on Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for Utter Failures, We'll Resume Our SRA Series to Illuminate How Bad the SRA Really Is
- a quick overview of the latest news
- Links 04/09/2026: Notorious Patent Trolls' Judge Enters the Private Sector (Corruption, Revolving Doors), Gloria Steinem's Life in Pictures
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 04/09/2026: Worries, Upgrades, and CS Students
- Links for the day
- Richard Stallman's Web Site Back Online, But It Seems Like a 2-Months-Old Snapshot
- Latest political notes are dated July 2 (2026)
- SPAM Disguised as Benchmark or Comparison: The Register MS "PARTNER CONTENT" is Getting Weirder by the Month
- Sites that promote fake 'coins' or pyramid schemes to their audience(s) aren't worth tolerating
- PIPs at IBMs are Layoffs Because They're Impossible to Satisfy (or They Terminate Workers Despite Satisfying Them)
- What insiders say
- In the United Kingdom You Can No Longer Make the Assumption People Use Windows (or 'Smart' 'Phone')
- As autumn arrives Microsoft faces a crisis
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 171 Out of 200: Talking About Corruption and Violence Against Women
- Today the Labour Party (UK) speaks about corruption
- Warming Up for Investigative Journalism About the European Patent Office (EPO), Europe's Second-Largest and Probably Most Corrupt Institution in Europe
- It continues to exploit diplomatic immunity for impunity
- Microsoft Handing Out PIPs by the Thousands, Anxiety in GAFAM Building Up
- Years ago I heard from people who pretended to be ill to avoid getting fired
- BRICS in the Windows: Brazil's GNU/Linux Share (as Measured by CDN) Has Hit Highest Point in a Month
- The largest Web CDN, Clownflare, sees GNU/Linux at 8.1% right now in Brazil
- Corporate Media Will Always Glorify Its Owners (Corporations That Value Nothing But Capital)
- Collecting "money" like it's a form of competition where they track "score"
- We'll Never Do Slop!
- Being against slop is not being "left behind"
- Thieves Complain About the People They Steal From
- "When you point the finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back to you"
- Links 04/09/2026: "The Rise of the Billionaire Lobby", the "Imperialist Delusions", and Digital Restrictions (DRM) From Nvidia
- Links for the day
- Buying From China
- Nations must begin to speak about their digital sovereignty, which Free software is best equipped to grant and best positioned to assure in the face of outside resistance
- GNU/Linux Continues to Grow in China
- GNU/Linux reached its highest point in a month
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 03, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, September 03, 2026
- Gemini Links 04/09/2026: Forgotten Realms Avatar Series and Slop Plagiarism's Footprint in Gopher/Geminispace
- Links for the day