No Toll-gates On The Internet.

            The battle to control our lives is an on going war, the corporate bodies of this capitalist world are continually seeking new ways to control every aspect of our lives, and it is all just for profit to their shareholders. The multi-national telecom giants are no different, they see the internet as something they can squeeze more money from, if they can just get their grubby hands on some sort of controlling mechanism, and they are working hard at it all the time. They have the money, the political connections, the lawyers and the time and they will use them all to get that advantage. What they should not have is the power to break the will of the people, that's up to us.  

This appeal from OpenMedia:

       We have just one week to stand against a plan, put forward by giant telecom conglomerates, to put a toll booth on the Internet. Please take a moment right now to use our high impact tool to put a stop to this horrible idea. Regulators in the European Union are about to review key Net Neutrality rules that fundamentally impact how the Internet works. Telecom companies are using this process as an opportunity to push for a scheme that would give them the power to put a toll booth on the Internet — making websites they don’t like slower and more expensive to access. Please, we have until July 18th to get on the public record — take quick moment to send a message to key decision makers while we still have time.

       The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) are responsible for these key rules[1] and they should enable equal access for all. But we know the telecom companies have powerful friends and lobbyists that have the ear of decision makers.[2] We have to make sure that so many of us speak up that we’re impossible to ignore.[3, 4, 5] We can’t afford for our favourite websites to become more expensive to access and slower to load — and whatever happens in Europe will will fundamentally impact how the borderless Internet works. We have to act now — we only have until July 18th to to get on the public record. Tell regulators: the Internet shouldn’t have a toll booth. The powerful chorus of open Internet supporters have won the battle for an equal Internet in India,[6] in the United States last month,[7] and are speaking out in droves in Canada.[8] We should get to decide how we use the Internet, — not powerful telecom gatekeepers with vested interests.[9] A free and open Internet levels the playing field for all and fosters incredible innovation, and if we don’t speak out now, we’re going to lose it. Tell regulators you’re willing to fight for an open Internet before the July 18 deadline.[10]

— Katy, and your OpenMedia team

P.S. At OpenMedia we’re always working to keep the Internet open, equal and surveillance-free. If you haven’t already, please chip in $10 a month to keep our small team fighting for your digital rights.

Footnotes:
1. Draft BEREC Guidelines on implementation by National Regulators of European net neutrality rules: BEREC
2. 10 reasons not to trust BEREC on Net Neutrality: Strand Reports
3. Net Neutrality: A Victory for Digital Innovation: Recode
4. EU Internet Users Can Stand Up For Net Neutrality: Mozilla
5. Like FCC, BEREC bows to activists on open Internet: Tech Policy Daily
6. Big win for net neutrality: Telecom regulator prohibits discriminatory tariffs for data: Times of India
7. Tom Wheeler defeats the broadband industry: Net neutrality wins in court: Ars Technica
8. We have a huge opportunity to end data caps in Canada: OpenMedia
9. EU telcos offer to ramp up 5G effort in return for watered-down net neutrality rules: Total Telecom
10. Learn more at SaveTheInternet.eu, a coalition of which OpenMedia is a proud member: SaveTheInternet.eu

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Net Neutrality Violated By T-Mobile.

From demandprogress.org

       T-Mobile has been caught red-handed violating Net Neutrality. Will you chip in $5 to help demand the FCC crack down?

Dear Friend,
         For possibly the first time since the FCC adopted Net Neutrality last year, an ISP has been caught red-handed breaking the law.¹
        T-Mobile is throttling video content from select websites as part of their new "Binge On" feature, and when confronted about it, T-Mobile's CEO lashed out at internet freedom activists, asking "Who the f*ck are you?" and "Who pays you?"²
         It's clear T-Mobile has no shame about violating Net Neutrality. And if the FCC doesn't crack down, other companies are sure to follow their lead.

Will you chip in $5 to help demand that the FCC crack down on T-Mobile's blatant violation of Net Neutrality?

       Here's what’s happening: Late last year, T-Mobile automatically enrolled all their users in a service they're calling Binge On, which allows users to watch video from certain select websites, like Netflix, without counting against their data cap.
       The problem is that sites not enrolled in Binge On, like YouTube and Vimeo, not only count against the data cap but are being pushed onto a data slow lane, causing buffering and poor playback.³
       This is a clear, systematic violation of the Net Neutrality rules we fought so hard for. And it's one of the first big tests of whether Net Neutrality will actually be enforced—or will exist only on paper.
       We're launching an urgent push to demand the FCC take swift action to crack down on T-Mobile. Will you donate?

Yes, I'll donate to help stop T-Mobile from violating Net Neutrality.

Thanks for taking action on this at a critical time.
David, Daniel, Kurt, Mark, Sara, Victoria, and the rest of the Demand Progress Team

DONATE

---

Sources:

1. T-Mobile 'breaks' net neutrality rules with Binge On, BBC News, January 5, 2016
2. Twitter blows up after T-Mobile CEO drops anti-eff f-bomb, Wired, January 7, 2016
3. EFF Confirms: T-Mobile’s Binge On Optimization is Just Throttling, Applies Indiscriminately to All Video, Electronic Frontier Foundation, January 4, 2016

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Urgent Call-out, For Net Neutrality.

      Despite the recent victory to keep net-neutrality on the Internet, the big corporations, as usual, don't accept defeat easily, and are trying to get their way, and control the Internet, by other means.

This from FFTF:

     If we don’t stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) it will do more damage to the Internet than any other deal in history.

That’s why today we’re working with hundreds of websites to flood Congress with calls demanding they oppose putting this secret deal on a Fast Track to approval.

Take action to stop the TPP right now

For Team Internet,

Fight for the Future

P.S. Looking for more information about the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Check out this overview.

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Comcast And Net Neutrality

     A massive battle to save net neutrality has been won, but the corporate power of Comcast is still attempting to reverse that victory. We won because of the massive response of ordinary people across the globe, their persistence and organisation was a tribute to people power, proving we can change the world, if we all come together. However we have to be ever vigilant and ready to resume the struggle.

Comcast is at it again -- they are scheming with a corrupt Congress in hopes of breaking the Internet for their profit. Take action now to demand that Congress leave the Internet alone.

Dear Fight for the Future member,

Good news. This morning, the FCC released the full text of the historic new net neutrality rules, and now it’s clearer than ever that these rules will protect free speech, and that Comcast and their allies in Congress have been lying to you.

You can read them in full here -- but since it's 313 pages (of fiery, Comcast-slaying justice), we wanted to give you a quick rundown of what the rules do and don't do. But don't stop reading after the summary, because Comcast is already on the attack and there's more to do right now.

• ISP’s and their friends in government can't block you from visiting a website. So you can visit any site that you want.
• They can't slow down access to websites. So the sites you want to visit will come to you as quickly as the sites Comcast wishes you were visiting.
• They can't speed up or make certain websites load faster. This is absolutely critical, because if they could speed up certain sites, that functionally means slowing down other sites.
• They can’t get between you and any content, application, service, or anything else that you want to access online. That is explicitly one of the rules. Just in case the other rules don’t cover something.
• There are no new taxes or fees anywhere in the rules, and there’s nothing limiting investment. At all. Period.

All of that is to say two simple, wonderful words: we won. And not only that, we won because of the work of people like you. Activism is mentioned time and again in the rules, and there’s barely an article written that doesn’t talk about it.

But the fight isn't over yet. Comcast has been scheming about how to use a corrupt Congress to kill net neutrality since before the FCC even voted on the rules. Last week, the House introduced a bill to kill the rules. Next week, there are three different hearings about them.

We can't let Comcast’s attacks get any traction -- these new rules do everything that the public fought for. Now we need to defend them and end this fight for good.

Click here to call the members of Congress who are going to the hearings next week and make sure they know you want to keep these rules strong.

These rules are built on almost a decade of groundwork, but the last year is when we really kicked this fight into high gear. Check out our timeline of everything that happened over the last year, from camping out outside of the FCC, to some of the largest Internet protests in history.

Thanks for helping us win net neutrality -- and for helping us protect it.

Charlie, Tiffiniy, Holmes, Evan, Jeff, and everyone at Fight for the Future

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Net Neutrality, Is Almost There.

       The fight for net neutrality is starting to look like a success story, not quite yet, but it could be in sight. All because of world wide solidarity and mobilisation. Together we can change the world, on many more fronts.

This from Fight for the Future:

The first thing I read this morning gave me chills.

      The New York Times ran a front page story about how enemies of net neutrality are on the retreat, and that tomorrow, we could see the biggest open Internet victory of our lives. [1]
Bottom line: together, we are on the cusp of an absolutely unbelievably epic victory for net neutrality. Do you want to savor it? Watch this video we made!
      We whipped up this fun little video to mark the “final” moments of the Internet Countdown, and to look back on how we got here, together. It’s so mind blowing to think how all these online protests, real life camp-outs, calls, emails and epic stunts snowballed into what could be the biggest win of our lives. It could be even bigger than defeating SOPA. [2][3]
      Keep an eye on the news tomorrow, and remember: activism works. When tons of people come together with a clear vision, nothing’s impossible. Really! Getting to where we are right now was supposed to be impossible!!
Can’t watch a video right now? Would you rather be scolding some politicians on the phone? Then click here to start making phone calls!
      The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee just had a hearing today whose sole purpose was to kill net neutrality with partisan confusion. That’s what we’re up against now, and we need to smack it down hard if we want to defend any victory. Click here to call these committee members, and stay on the line for as long as you like; we’ll keep connecting you with more of them… until you hang up or your phone runs out of batteries :)

     Thanks for everything you do,
Holmes Wilson, Tiffiniy Cheng, Evan Greer, Vasjen Katro, Jeff Lyons, Laila Murad, and the whole Fight for the Future team.
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/technology/path-clears-for-net-neutrality-ahead-of-fcc-vote.html
2. http://www.forbes.com/sites/marvinammori/2015/02/25/ten-reasons-the-net-neutrality-victory-is-bigger-than-the-sopa-win/
3. http://www.wetmachine.com/tales-of-the-sausage-factory/the-fcc-is-gonna-give-me-an-open-internet-for-my-birthday-best-present-evar/

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Update On Net Neutrality.

     The latest on net neutrality, keep up the pressure, this from Fight for the Future:

Hey,
     I know Evan emailed you earlier today, but this is urgent. Media reports are coming out about FCC's forthcoming rules, and for the most part they sound really, really good. But, there’s one important detail, a loophole that might still let Comcast mess with services like Netflix. Can you send the FCC an email right now? We need you. Click here to tell the FCC: "Don't mess with Netflix"
         (In most email apps–including gmail–this will start a new email to a list of key FCC employees. Then just click send. If it doesn’t work, reply to let us know.)
Things are moving really fast right now, and we’ll know more soon. But journalists at the Wall Street Journal have been briefed on the FCC’s latest plans, and it looks like the FCC will be giving cable companies like Comcast some ability to charge “interconnection fees.”
These fees are the reason Comcast forced broken and “buffering” video on millions of its own customers, just to extort money from Netflix.
      We still don’t know the details of the rules yet. Probably even the Wall Street Journal hasn’t seen the exact text. And, if early reports are true, we could be looking at a huge victory for net neutrality. The rules look better than anybody ever thought the y’d be.
      But we wanted to sound the alarm. As we move into the end game, we need the FCC to know we’re watching, and that we’re dead serious about getting net neutrality done right, with no loopholes for the cable companies to exploit. If there’s a big loophole (and it looks like there might be) let’s do everything we can to fix it right now. Are you with us?
We need you. Click here to tell the FCC: "Don't mess with Netflix"

Thanks for doing this.
Sincerely,
Holmes Wilson and the Fight for the Future team.
      If the links above don't work for you, here's the text of the email and who to send it to:

Subject: Don’t mess with Netflix
To: wheeler@fcc.gov
BCC:jonathan.sallet@fcc.gov,debra.weiner@fcc.gov,jacob.lewis@fcc.gov,
michele.ellison@fcc.gov,mignon.clyburn@fcc.gov,adonis.hoffman@fcc.gov,
rebekah.goodheart@fcc.gov,louis.peraertz@fcc.gov,daniel.alvarez@fcc.gov,
ruth.milkman@fcc.gov,gigi.sohn@fcc.gov,philip.verveer@fcc.gov,
maria.kirby@fcc.gov,diane.cornell@fcc.gov,renee.gregory@fcc.gov,
matthew.berry@fcc.gov,nicholas.degani@fcc.gov,ajit.pai@fcc.gov,
mike.orielly@fcc.gov,amy.bender@fcc.gov,shannon.gilson@fcc.gov,
mark.wigfield@fcc.gov,kim.hart@fcc.gov,jonathan.chambers@fcc.gov,
jon.wilkins@fcc.gov,julie.veach@fcc.gov,matthew.delnero@fcc.gov,
roger.sherman@fcc.gov,kris.monteith@fcc.gov,team@fightforthefuture.org

Dear FCC,
          I don't want Youtube, Netflix, Vimeo or *any* online video to look like this: http://gph.to/1D7oxY7
        If you let cable companies charge interconnection fees, Comcast will keep slowing sites down until they cough up more cash.
        Every American Internet user will suffer, and they’ll blame the FCC (and, likely, Obama) for not closing this loophole when they had the chance. I sincerely hope that the Wall Street Journal is wrong, and that your rules will ban these shakedown tactics outright.

Sincerely,
Everyone who watches video online.

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Internet Neutrality.

     The internet is an important part of our day to day life, making net neutrality a very critical issue for us all.

Here is the latest update on this issue from, Fight for the Future:

 Dear Fight for the Future member,

     To put it bluntly, it’s time to get serious. If you care about the Internet, click here to join the Internet Countdown.

     The FCC’s proposed net neutrality rules are expected to drop this week. What matters most right now is that we keep up a constant and sustained barrage of online protest between now and the vote calling for the best possible protections for a free and open web.

     The Internet is awesome at defending itself. As always, we’ve built the tools to make it easy for *EVERYONE* to maximize their potential as an Internet defending hero.

      Your voice matters. Click here to join the Internet Countdown for net neutrality.

      Participating is easy. If you have a website, blog, or Tumblr, you can grab a snippet of code to display this awesome countdown timer on your site, and help drive phone calls and emails to lawmakers in DC. If not, you can join with Twitter, and sign up to tweet the countdown, like this, either once a day, once a week, or just once before the vote on Feb 26th, it’s your choice.

     Thousands have already signed up, helping us reach more than 3.4 million people every day already. If even just half the people on our list did this, we’ll be louder than anything Comcast can dish out.

      Will you help us win a historic victory for free speech? Click here and let’s do this.

    The atmosphere here at Fight for the Future is electric right now. We’re on the cusp of a victory that no one thought was possible, and we owe it all to supporters like you.

With gratitude and hope,

-Evan at FFTF
    P.S. Exciting news! CREDO selected us to receive donations from their customers this month! The more votes we get, the more funds we’ll receive to fight for Internet freedom. To be clear: this is a way you can fund our work, even if you have no money to give. Tens of thousands of dollars are at stake.  Please click here and vote for Fight for the Future! It could make a huge difference. Thanks!
     P.P.S There’s an excellent article in The Guardian today that tells the saga of how a scrappy band of Internet freedom activists managed to beat Big Cable on net neutrality against all odds. We’re quoted in it. Check it out and share..

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Net Neutrality Under Threat.

         The internet is important to the way we organise, communicate and keep in touch with friends and family, anything that skews it in favour of big business at the expense of the ordinary member of the population, has got to be stopped. It would be shaping the internet the same way our society is formed, the rich and powerful get he cream while you and I get shoved into the slow lane, a class divided internet is not acceptable. 

Dear Fight for the Future member,

Click here to join an emergency protest for net neutrality on November 6th!

    Did you hear about the massive protests in Hungary? The government there proposed an Internet Tax, that would have charged ordinary internet users exorbitant prices *per gigabite.*

Thousands of people took to the streets in protest, holding their shining cell phones aloft as a symbol of resistance to the unfair Internet Tax. In response, the government announced they would lower the tax.

Instead of accepting the compromise, even more people took to the streets demanding unfettered, affordable access to the free and open web. And they won. The government backed down and took the controversial tax off the table.

      It’s election day here in the U.S. and we face a similar crisis. Regardless of which party comes out on top today, the FCC is set to annihilate net neutrality and open the floodgates for rampant Internet censorship and abuse. This is the moment we’ve been building for. In the last year, Fight for the Future has grown to more than 1 million members! We are stronger than we’ve ever been and we have the power to save net neutrality, but signing petitions and making pho ne calls isn’t going to be enough.

    This Thursday, November 6th we’re organizing emergency protests across the country, but we need more people to step up and help “anchor” protests in their towns. Anchoring a protest is easy: it just means you pick a time and location, and agree to be there and get as many of your friends as possible to come. The protests themselves are simple: we are asking people to gather in the evening at government buildings and hold their glowing cell phones, laptops, and tablets aloft to shine light on the growing corruption in DC and demand real net neutrality.

     We, and several other groups with large email lists, will send an email to our thousands of members in your area encouraging them to attend your event.

Click here to join an emergency protest or start one in your town.

You can also reply to this email if you are able to help anchor a protest and we’ll get in touch with you right away.

     The protests on Thursday will be the kickoff for a month of escalating actions leading up to the FCC’s final decision, which we expect to come in early December. We’ll be holding these vigils every Thursday leading up until that point, so if you can help organize one any time in the coming weeks, let us know! Just reply to this email, we’ll see it.

We’ve updated https://Battleforthenet.com to support these emergency protests.

      Please share the link far and wide and tell as many people as possible that the fight for net neutrality is coming to a head and we need to start something big right now.

For the Internet,

-Evan at Fight for the Future     
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Net Neutrality.

It is very important, very, very important indeed.

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Corporations, Rulers Of The World!!!

      More and more, large corporations dictate what happens in countries across the globe, governments bend to the pressure of big money, and the people suffer. At present there are two pieces of legislation being fashioned that will immensely boost the control the large corporations have over our lives, TPP and the big telecom companies attempt to control the internet. However,  these are not the only two battles for control, it goes on daily as the corporate world rides roughshod over the people and their rights. 

        Drinking water is a necessity, but to corporations profit is more important, as the people of El Salvador are finding out. 

This from the Sum Of Us:

     A major mining company is suing El Salvador for millions -- just for saying no to a dirty mine that would have destroyed its remaining water supply. A mining corporation shouldn't get to decide what laws a country can and can't pass. With just one week remaining before the hearing begins, we need to get OceanaGold to back down now.

Sign the petition asking OceanaGold to drop the lawsuit and respect El Salvador’s decision.

        90% of EL Salvador’s water is already polluted, putting families and communities in danger of waterborne illness, food shortages and the added expense of buying bottled water. If OceanaGold gets its way, it could destroy the last remaining river with drinkable water in this Central American country.

       Already, the mining industry has devastated El Salvador. The community of San Sebastian is being forced to buy bottled water after a mining company contaminated its water supply. Community activists have risked their lives opposing mining companies, including Dora Alicia Recinos Soto, who was shot dead in front of her house while 8 months pregnant and carrying her 2-year-old baby.

        The hearing for the case is in less than a week away, so we have to act now to make sure OceanaGold drops this frivolous lawsuit.

Sign the petition asking OceanaGold to drop the lawsuit against El Salvador for trying to save its water.

      The government of El Salvador has already denied OceanaGold a mining license for its El Dorado mine, because it failed to comply with national regulations protecting human rights and the environment. But instead of conceding to this democratic decision, OceanaGold is now relying on dangerous “Investor State Arbitration" -- rules created under international trade treaties that allow foreign corporations to sue national governments for billions just to get their way. OceanaGold has repeatedly proven it cares only about profits -- not the people of El Salvador. Now, it's time the company listened.

Add your voice to ask OceanaGold to drop the lawsuit against El Salvador for trying to save its water.

       We know we can win this fight, because public pressure has worked before. After thousands of us spoke out about Rio Tinto's involvement in a destructive Alaska mine and helped get Indigenous activists to their annual shareholder meeting, Rio Tinto pulled out. And when we focused public pressure on Infinito Gold over a $1 billion lawsuit against Costa Rica, the company dropped its claim to $94 million -- not enough, but some reprieve for the community fighting this mining giant. This is another fight for people over profits, and together we can force OceanaGold to back down before it’s too late.

Thank you for all that you do,
Paul, Ledys, Emma and the rest of us

     For more information: Gold Mining Company Wages $301 Million Lawsuit Against El Salvador, Global Research, March 17 2014.
El Salvador groups accuse Pacific Rim of 'assault on democratic governance', The Guardian, April 10th 2014. 

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