Brussels – This week decision makers in Brussels are negotiating over a crucial text to preserve the open internet. In response, a coalition of digital rights organisations from across the EU is re-launching the SavetheInternet.eu campaign, an effort to mobilise internet users to fight to protect the open internet.
The Telecoms Single Market text is currently being negotiated in “trialogue,” the process by which the three major organs of the European Union — the Commission, the Parliament, and the Council of the EU — discuss their various proposals and resolve them into a single text. The European Parliament’s text is the only version of the Telecoms Single Market that includes strong protections for net neutrality and prohibits paid prioritisation. Any text that fails to include these protections will fail to protect the open internet and its users.
“A failure to protect net neutrality in the EU is a failure to protect the future of the internet,” said Raegan MacDonald, Access European Policy Manager. “We urge the EU to safeguard the social and economic benefits of an open internet, and resist the pressure from incumbent operators to splinter it.”
As the trialogue takes place over the coming weeks, internet users in the EU will be taking action via email, phone, fax, and Twitter to urge MEPs to stand by the EU Parliament’s position from April 2014, which includes strong Net Neutrality protections.
“In 2014, the European Parliament stood with thousands of citizens who took action to fight for net neutrality,” said Estelle Massé, Access Policy Analyst. “More than 40,000 faxes, thousands of emails, and hundreds of phone calls were sent to defend our fundamental rights online. Today, we’re asking European users to once again stand up for the open internet.”
Find more information about the trialogue here.