British govt asks EU to gut Net Neutrality

The UK government's reps in the European Union are pushing to gut the right of Internet users to access and contribute to networked services, replacing it with the "right" to abide by EULAs:

'Amendments to the Telecoms Package circulated in Brussels by the UK government, seek to cross out users' rights to access and distribute Internet content and services. And they want to replace it with a "principle" that users can be told not only the conditions for access, but also the conditions for the use of applications and services. The amendments, if carried, would reverse the principle of end-to-end connectivity which has underpinned not only the Internet, but also European telecommunications policy, to date.' To add to the irony, an accompanying text cuts and pastes from Wikipedia, without attribution.

UK Government Wants To Kill Net Neutrality In EU

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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johnlancia

Arkizzle. If that is your real name.

Nonsense. I’m not bitter at all. I probably make less than most of my friends, and I can’t blather on ad nauseum about about how great the beaches in Thailand are or how nice the people in Paris are . But that’s because I’ve got a big brood of children to look after, which none of my friends have or afford what with the payments on their over priced cars and Soho District rents. Except for one chap who lives in Scotland and never ever travels or blathers on about how its all happening in LA or anything like that. Because he’s got something really important to do instead.
Now, the way I look at it. I might not be having the swinging lifestyle like the rest of my forty-ish friends. But I do have what I’m really supposed to have at my age. A family. You can’t stay young forever, and when you get older, you are probably going to need someone to help you out. No matter how much money you’ve saved and invested.

My main beef with Cory is his slagging of Canada’s telco policies, when there are much more important things to consider when choosing a place to live. As post number 22 points out so well. As well, I am a proud Canadian.

Anyhoo, I regret if I came off as shrill or anything like that. Not intended.
Alderman

I wish the government would just show their true face. I’ve had it with the fake smiles and the way they talk down to people.

They’re just back stabbing ********.

In times like these, they should be boosting peoples morale, not obliterating it.
Takuan

but if they break your will utterly, they will rule unchallenged for at least two more generations.
arkizzle

It is, in fact, my real name.

Mr. Kizzle; Mr. Armand Kizzle (I wish that was my real name, it sounds devious).

John, it just sounds like you really really love Cory, and wish he had never left. That’s sweet. Maybe if you tell him how you feel, he’ll come over sometimes.

Also, what were the whole first two paragraphs (of your three paragraph post) about? I was only talking about your issues with where Cory lives (and what he says about his own country), I didn’t mean it personally, or about your life. I don’t know anything about your life, so couldn’t possibly comment.

Sounds like you needed to get it off your chest anyway, glad to be of service :)
remmelt

> In times like these, they should be boosting peoples morale, not obliterating it.

Their job is to maintain status quo. Boosting morale never comes into it.
KanedaJones

well, the war with corporate entities continue. People have to realize this is no different from the hated reign of tyrant kings that so many think we got rid of in the past.
arkizzle

JohnLancia.. bitter much?
KanedaJones

changing the citizen’s morale is separate from how much of a jerk you want to be.. it just means you have to hope nobody picks up the story for the news feed that you are being such a jerk.

so ask yourself.. do you expect this to be carried on major news sites across Europe?
IamInnocent

And to think that this is the most progressive government UK people can hope for…
Anonymous

Where is the source for this rumour?
KanedaJones

@#22 Anon

Hey, someone explained it sensible ;)

@#23 johnlancia

I share your opinion but thought of not kicking Cory in the nuts this time around since I’ve been rocking the boat too much lately. It would seem some of us here jump on Cory on that issue about equal to him bashing canada.. actually probably more than that at this point.
Anonymous

So what’s the purpose of this anyway, to stop the exposing of big business shenanigans on places like Sourcewatch, Wikipedia, or Greenpeace by ending anonymity because the exposers will realize that they will now be revealing themselves in so doing? Or is it to find a way of making money off the net by charging everyone who uses it? OR both?
AlmostReadytoFly

@IamInnocent:

I’m hoping for the Lib Dems to get in, but it’s not very likely.
Frank W

Hey Cory, this Slashdot item actually has â€œCALLCORYDOCTOROWâ€ in the keyword line! You should be flattered.
@ Alderman: The government show their true face all right, but you’ll have to be on teh Interwebs to see it. The big news media are just there to pass on the word of the owners.
Takuan

Canada’s civil liberties are and have been dissolving for quite some time. Should I begin a recitation? How about the plans of the federal government to use militia against citizens? Or the use of RCMP plainclothes spies and agent provocateurs to curtail protest against the coming olympic games? The enthusiastic push by Ottawa to have a Canadian in American prison executed? The British Columbia government censorship of the internet (and all other media) to muzzle protest before an election? The conspiracy of silence over big business crushing small communities in the north to push through sour gas wells? The whitewashing of assorted police murders like that at Vancouver airport? The ignorant reversal of progress in marijuana decriminalization policies?
teb

If you live in the UK you can use the website http://www.writetothem.com to find out who your MEPs are and get in contact with them.
johnlancia

Considering that you ‘on occasion’ go out of your way to comment on how crap Canada’s internet is, and trumpet it as the reason you won’t return. When you’ve given it up to for the Orwellian pastures of first the U.S. and then the internet Eden of Britain. Poo pooing every little telco failing in Canada while failing to mention the massive failures of the places where you are currently living. I fail to see where my attention should otherwise be directed. You can argue in a courtroom about what it is that you exactly said. But I’m sure that I’m not the only one who has caught your drift.

Most of my friends are ex-pats who have moved on to great paying jobs in the States, Europe and Asia. They all do the same thing when they come back to slum in Canada. They sit around and pick at every little thing, like any of them is a good reason to never come back. All the while urging me to do the same because apparently its cooler to be international than Canadian. Never thinking to mention the surveillance society being set up in the UK (and spreading to the rest of Muslim terrorist fearing Europe), or the danger of being sued out of your home in the States for downloading a few songs or movies. And lets not even get started on the outright human rights abuses of China, which is a great place to live and work if you have money, but not so great if you are part of the rest of the billion. Canada’s still pretty okay in my book.
That being said, I am a Canadian, and pretty polite and all. So I should mention that I do enjoy reading your books and enjoy most of your non-Canada bashing posts here.
lumpi

I said it before: The UK has long become the new US, only worse. It was fashionable to hate Bush, now the UK is going the same route.

And thanks to the wonderful EU (and the soon to be enforced “EU constitution”) all member states are slaves to the idiotic ideas of the most powerful nations – the UK, France and Germany sure has a few outrageous ideas up its sleeve as well.

Brave new world.
Anonymous

Cory,

What you need to understand is that as fellow Canadians we like you and your work, which we relate to.

Sometimes though, your posts about the evils of Bell, Rogers etc. seem to encompass the rest of the country, as though telecom issues trump everything else Canadians do and contribute.

Obviously on further reflection, your constant positive reviews of CBC content help, but this is your burden I suppose — as the most prominent Canadian in the international blogosphere, you have become something of a lightning rod on Canadiana.

Ok, now comes the risky part:
You can go to jail in the UK for looking at a cop funny, but a bitcap from a Canadian ISP is the end of the world? This reads as jail is better than a bitcap or throttling, based on YOUR own postings. This is why you get the Canadian bitterness.

Try to understand, that is all. <3
teb

@#10

The EU constitution wasn’t ratified. It’s replacement – The Reform Treaty – was rejected by Ireland last June.
dainel

So who’s wonderful idea was this? This is clearly against the public good. This person should be named, shamed and ostracised. If this person quits from government and gets a job from private industry that benefits from this proposal, there’s a good case for a prosecution for corruption.
johnlancia

Ah, then I guess Cory will have to be finding a new home. As his reason for quitting Canada was our draconian telco system which pales in comparison to what the British have set up. With their ASBOS’ and their Orwellian CCTV system. Canada is like the land of freedom Compared to the U.K. in most respects. Except for the cool factor that is.
Cory Doctorow

“As his reason for quitting Canada was our draconian telco system”

I never, ever said anything of the kind.

I left Canada to open my business’s San Francisco office.

I have said, on occasion, that when I think of *returning* to Canada, the dismal telco policy makes it a non-starter.

If you can’t tell the difference, you’re not paying attention.
darue

Britain needs a revolution. The scum have destroyed the labour party (a meaningless false advertising name now), what a miserable pathetic shame. Pathetic.
urshrew

Corporate entities are just angry that the internet wasn’t like television, where they can control all the content. Now they’re fighting back the only way the free market can, getting the government to do their dirty work for them.
teb

@#12,

I don’t think any one individual is responsibe for this set of amendments. It seems to be the work of lobbyists.

I was looking around the iptegrity site that slashdot links to and noticed that an earlier article mentions AT&T and the British telco regulator Ofcom as ‘the main driving force’ behind ammendments.

Since Ofcom has just given BT the go ahead to build a new generation of fast broadband and the BBC have just announced an IPTV project (project canvas), I am really not surprised that the changes have been described as changing the bussiness model of an ISP into one of a Cable TV provider.