Big tech accountability? Read how we got here in  The Closing of the Net 

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)

If you like the articles in this section and you are interested in the Telecoms Package and EU telecoms regulation, plus  copyright enforcement policy, you may like my books A Copyright Masquerade: How Corporate Lobbying Threatens Online Freedoms and The Copyright Enforcement Enigma - Internet Politics and the ‘Telecoms Package’

 And you may like my book The Closing of the Net which discusses the outcome of the 2009 Telecoms Package 3rd Reading in the wider policy context.

The Telecoms Package Conciliation Agreement  should  stop  the worst of the Hadopi  and 3-strikes measures, and it ring-fences what can be done by governments who wish to restrict the Internet. That is what the European Parliament intended. But there are some differences in  the interpretation, as a trawl of experts, lobbyists and websites reveals.

 

European governments will find it harder to legislate for 3-strikes measures under the new Telecoms Package, although it may well go to the European Court before we can be 100% clear what is possible and what is not. 

 

The European Parliament's rapporteur, Catherine Trautmann, speaking at the press conference on 5 November, was clear that the text was intended to block 3-strikes. "Now we have legal

Read more: Telecoms Package: the verdict

Catherine Trautmann, rapporteur for the Telecoms Package framework directive, has asked the European Commission to take a full review of net neutrality, and stated that it should be enshrined as a principle under EU law.

 

As the spotlight focussed on the replacement of Amendment 138, another element of the Telecoms Package agreement last week fell into the shadows. Regular iptegrity readers will know that a Declaration on Net Neutrality from the European Commission was also on the cards, and that I was somewhat critical of the way it had been written.

 

A re-worked version of the Declaration on Net Neutrality was also

Read more: Catherine Trautmann rewrites net neutrality policy

What is a ‘prior, fair and impartial procedure' and how far will it prevent British or French -style 3-strikes?

The Telecoms Package  was sealed tonight, following what appears to have been a lengthy negotiation between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.  A text was agreed last night  at around 11pm Brussels time (see below). The European Parliament appears to have gained a

Read more: Telecoms Package sealed, but not with a kiss

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Iptegrity in brief

 

Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten. I’ve been analysing analysing digital policy since 2008. Way back then, I identified how issues around rights can influence Internet policy, and that has been a thread throughout all of my research. I hold a PhD in EU Communications Policy from the University of Westminster (2010), and a Post-graduate diploma in marketing.   I’ve served as an independent expert on the Council of Europe  Committee on Internet Freedoms, and was involved in a capacity building project in Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine. I am currently (from June 2022)  Policy Manager - Freedom of Expression, with the Open Rights Group. For more, see About Iptegrity

Iptegrity.com is made available free of charge for  non-commercial use, Please link-back & attribute Monica Horten. Thank you for respecting this.

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States v the 'Net? 

Read The Closing of the Net, by me, Monica Horten.

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" essential read for anyone interested in understanding the forces at play behind the web." ITSecurity.co.uk

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Copyright Enforcement Enigma launch, March 2012

In 2012, I presented my PhD research in the European Parliament.

 

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