On Monday, the EU telecoms regulators’ consultation on net neutrality will end.
The input received will decide whether these practices will be allowed (among other issues):
- Better, faster routes for companies with deep pockets (“special services”)
- The throttling of “undesirable” services (“traffic management”)
- Providers picking and choosing which services are exempt from your plan’s data allowance (“zero rating”)
Telecoms providers have not shied away from even the most shady tactics to further their agenda. They even published a “5G Manifesto” that can only be described as blackmail: They threaten not to invest in 5G networks unless net neutrality rules are weakened.
Instead of rejecting these attempts at blackmail, Commissioner Günther Oettinger is praising the manifesto as “vital support from industry for the EU 5G action plan”.
The relation between net neutrality and investment in infrastructure is in fact the polar opposite. Premium services with priority lanes and slower speeds for others will not lead to infrastructure improvement – equal access will. Net neutrality creates an incentive for investment in faster broadband connections by denying telecoms the ability to make money from a scarcity of bandwidth.
You can help prevent a mistake of historic proportions.
The public consultation is not just a tool for the telecoms lobby, it’s open to all of us!
The more people participate, the louder our voice for a fair an free Internet will be heard.
You have until Monday to go to savetheinternet.eu and send a message to your telecoms regulators: Don’t neuter net neutrality!
Don’t neuter #NetNeutrality! Tweet this!
In the words of leading experts like Tim Berners-Lee and Barbara von Schewick: “We have [only a few] days to save the open Internet in Europe. Let’s use them.”
Send a message to telecoms regulators now!
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