E.U. Leaders Bolster Internet Access Protections - NYTimes.com - The Diigo Meta page

• 07 Nov 09
  

  Patrick O'Keefe
  • European lawmakers on Thursday agreed on new protections for Internet users, striking a compromise between national governments seeking to impose tough anti-piracy laws and consumer organizations that wanted to enshrine Internet access as an unassailable right.
  • The agreement removes the last hurdle to passage of sweeping changes to European telecommunications law, which had been held hostage for six months by the standoff over Internet access.
  • 3 more annotations...
  • • Under the compromise, any decision to sever Internet access, an approach championed by several E.U. countries seeking to clamp down on digital copying of music and movies, must be subject to a legal review.
    • “This is a very fundamental step,” said Catherine Trautmann, a member of parliament from Strasbourg, France, who sponsored the amendment. “It is the first time that we affirm that access to Internet is an essential tool to exercise fundamental rights and freedoms. It is progress for the rights of citizens.”
    • Consumer and Internet advocacy groups that had sought stronger legal protection in the bill said they were disappointed by the move, noting that the compromise requires only a “prior fair and impartial procedure,” not a criminal trial, before authorities can cut off Internet service.
• 06 Nov 09
  

  Jonathan Bailey

  130 eu threestrikes netneutrality

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