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A Copyright Masquerade: How Corporate Lobbying Threatens Online Freedoms Due August 2013.

Telecoms Package 3rd Reading

The Telecoms Package went to a Third Reading in the European Parliament in the autumn of 2009.

The core issue related to the controversial Amendment 138, which was carried by the European Parliament, in the Second Reading vote on 6 May 2009.

Amendment 138 sought to protect the rights of Internet users in situations where governments or private operators might introduce measures which restrict their access to applications and services. Other parts of the Package, notably the Universal Services and Users Rights directive, contain provisions that were added as part of the "compromise" process, which will permit broadband operators to restrict users access to services and applications on the Internet. It also contains a provision which permits governments to order such restrictions.

This section of iptegrity.com monitored developments in the Third Reading of the Telecoms Package.

The text of the Parliament' Second Reading is available in all EU languages at the following URLs:

Framework, authorisation and access directives (Trautmann report )

Universal services and users rights directive (Harbour report)

EU negotiator lands top job in AT&T

Monica Horten

Published on 20 September 2009

A member of the Czech Presidency team negotiating on the the Telecoms Package is going to a job with AT&T, the American telecommunications giant which lobbied for the provisions to restrict access to services on the Internet.

A Czech government representative who was on the Council's negotiating team for the Telecoms Package, is to start work next month in a senior public affairs role for AT&T Europe. Filip Svab, who was

Telecoms Package to be decided over dinner!

Monica Horten

Published on 16 September 2009

Can the European Parliament decide on a law that affects the fundamental rights of nearly 500 million people on the basis of a diary slot for dinner? If this is true, the European Parliament should be ashamed of itself! From a citizen's perpective, it would be an insult. And it breaks the Parliament's own rules.

**I am double-checking on this as I find it hard to believe. See below for some additional information.**

**There is definitely movement now on the 3rd reading and I hope to have more soon.**

There are mixed messages on the Third Reading of the Telecoms Package: when it will start and what will be addressed. What is clear is that the pressure from the Council of Ministers to keep it

Is the Telecoms Package innovation-hostile?

Monica Horten

Published on 10 September 2009

Innovation does not come from boardrooms, and the view of the panel was that discriminatory practices permitted under the Telecoms Package put innovation at risk.

Report from Green Group/Pirate Party seminar: Telecoms Package, preparing for a third reading, European Parliament 7 September 2009

Dr Malte Behrmann, of the European Games Developers Federation, said that games developers have found new business models, which are now under threat of blocking by telecoms operators. "The real problem is the risk of

About Iptegrity.com

Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten, independent policy writer and Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics & Political Science. Iptegrity offers expert insights into Internet policy. Iptegrity is read by lawyers, academics, policy-makers and citizens, and cited in the media. Please acknowledge Iptegrity when you cite or link. For more, see IP politics with integrity