<font>Dear all<br><br>Please see below the letter sent from Community Media Forum Europe:<br></font><br><div class="gmail_quote"><br>Dear all<br>
<br>
The ITRE committee of the European Parliament will have a vote on net neutrality the 24th<br>
of february. As a neutral internet is essential for community media we wrote an open<br>
letter to the Members of the ITRE committee of the European Parliament.<br>
<br>
If you would like to join the campaign you can write an email or fax to the Members of the<br>
ITRE committee of the European Parliament. You can find a list of the members of the ITRE<br>
committee here: <a href="https://memopol.lqdn.fr/search/?q=is_active%3A1+committees%3AITRE" target="_blank">https://memopol.lqdn.fr/search/?q=is_active%3A1+committees%3AITRE</a><br>
<br>
The website <a href="http://www.savetheinternet.eu/#act" target="_blank">http://www.savetheinternet.eu/#act</a> run by several European NGOs gives an easy<br>
interface to write, fax or call the MEPs an further information on the topic.<br>
<br>
Here is what we wrote:<br>
<br>
Honorable Member of the European Parliament,<br>
<br>
Nowadays, access to the Internet is a necessary condition for independent media coverage.<br>
For Community Media the internet is essential for editorial research and communication ,<br>
program sharing with other radio stations, program distribution as podcast or streaming<br>
technologies.<br><br>
With its declaration of 11.02.2009 "on the role of media in promoting of social cohesion<br>
and intercultural dialogue " [1 ] the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe<br>
recognizes Community Media as " independent media in addition to the public and<br>
private-commercial media ". They meet " many needs and functions that can cover neither<br>
commercial nor public media." They " contribute to media diversity" and " promote<br>
information access for underrepresented or marginalized persons, their possibilities of<br>
expression and their participation in decision-making . "<br><br>
In order to make this contribution, access to an unresticted Internet is essential.<br>
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe also declares: Users should have the<br>
greatest possible access to Internet-based content, applications and services of their<br>
choice, whether or not they are offered free of charge, using suitable devices of their<br>
choice. Such a general principle, commonly referred to as network neutrality, should<br>
apply irrespective of the infrastructure or the network used for Internet connectivity.<br>
Access to infrastructure is a prerequisite for the realisation of this [2].<br><br>
Therefore, we follow the debate on the draft law of the European Commission on net<br>
neutrality with great concern. The Commission's draft was originally made to secure <br>network neutrality , but as it looks right now it could lead to the opposite. Various human <br>rights organizations have criticized the proposal, especially regarding the following points:<br>
<br>
1. Introduction of a two-class Internet by " special services " ( Article 2.15 and Article 19)<br>
<br>
The regulation should define which services use the open Internet and what "premium" or<br>
"special services" are. The Commission's draft text is unfortunately poorly defined and<br>
would allow telecommunication companies to interpret every service as a "special<br>
service" and thus charge extra for those service. This regulation could therefore lead to<br>
a two -class Internet, where large corporations could buy a fast lane on the Internet.<br>
<br>
2. Internet blocking and censorship by the Internet service provider (Article 23.5.a )<br>
<br>
The Commision sees procedures the provider may voluntarily take to prevent " severe<br>
crimes" as "reasonable traffic management". The internet providers would then have the<br>
ability to block content on the Internet without a court order. They could decide which<br>
content may be communicated and received and which could be assistance to "severe crime".<br>
The establishment of carriers to become controllers of free social communication<br>
contradicts any rule of law principle, and is a completely unacceptable robbery of EU<br>
citizens' elementary rights.<br>
<br>
3. Misleading "liberties " instead of rights (Article 23)<br>
<br>
The Regulation is talking of " freedoms" of users whereas it should be "rights". Consumers<br>
have already the "freedom" to choose between many confusing tariffs of Internet service<br>
providers. The Commission was very generous and intends to reguarise this - a right to<br>
unrestricted Internet access is unfortunately not mentioned in the draft .<br><br>
We as Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE) join this criticism and reject the definition of<br>
any premium or special services, as well as Internet blocking and censorship by the<br>
Internet provider and the lack of a right to unrestricted Internet access for all users.<br>
<br>We ask you therefore to engage in the ITRE Committee for a neutral Internet .<br>
Yours sincerly, Friederike Maier for the board of CMFE<br>
Links:<br>
[1] <a href="https://wcd.coe.int/wcd/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1409919" target="_blank">https://wcd.coe.int/wcd/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1409919</a><br>
[2]<br>
<a href="https://wcd.coe.int/wcd/com.instranet.InstraServlet?Index=no&command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=1894969&SecMode=1&DocId=1631194&Usage=2" target="_blank">https://wcd.coe.int/wcd/com.instranet.InstraServlet?Index=no&command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=1894969&SecMode=1&DocId=1631194&Usage=2</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
<br>
<br>
============================================================================<br>
Friederike Maier<br>
mailto: <a href="mailto:friederike.maier@cmfe.eu">friederike.maier@cmfe.eu</a> website: <a href="http://www.cmfe.eu" target="_blank">http://www.cmfe.eu</a><br>
============================================================================<br>
CMFE<br>
COMMUNITY MEDIA FORUM EUROPE<br>
is a network of policy experts, organizations and federations, which aim to support the<br>
role of<br>
Community Media in Europe.<br>
CMFE is registered in Belgium as an International NGO, business n.0822992342<br>
<br>
CMFE is supported by the EU under the Europe for Citizens Program 2013.<br>
CMFE also kindly accepts donations: see our PayPal donation button at <a href="http://www.cmfe.eu" target="_blank">www.cmfe.eu</a><br>
==============================================================================<br>
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</div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Jaqui Devereux<br>Director<br>Community Media Association<br><br><a href="http://goog_1822693262" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.commedia.org.uk/</a><br>
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