Throttle the European Telecoms Package!

1. Sign the online petition to have three amendments removed from the so-called European Telecoms Package
2. Write to your MEP to consider the amendments and their implications
3. Denounce the threat posed by the global music and film industry's special-interest lobby groups

Political Campaigns

There is currently a concerted attempt to attack and 'tame' the Internet in Europe on behalf of entrenched vested commercial interests. It isn't a full-frontal assault, out in the open with weapons clearly visible and identifiable uniforms on display. This is a sneaky hit and run job and the danger is that European ISPs and Internet users will be outflanked and overwhelmed before they know what has happened.

The European Parliament is working on what's being called the 'telecoms package'. But, don't be fooled by the benign-sounding title, this is not the legislative equivalent of a parcel of Christmas or Birthday goodies. Amongst the many, many amendments (800 plus in fact) to existing chunks of European telecom-related legislation are at least three measures that will have the effect of removing the immunity ISPs' currently enjoy over both the material passing through their networks and the behaviour of their users on it. This is a bad move that will have the most serious repercussions in due course.

The private vested interest groups in the music and film industries are working against the general interest: i.e. the open barrier-free Internet which promotes innovation. Their commercial interests thus hock innovation in general and in their own industry, leading to progressive prostration and eventual demise of the anachronistic business model they claim to defend.