June 18, 2009 at 12:45“Touching my Skype - violating my right to expression and communication”: Internet access is recognized as a fundamental right (finally)
- Transfer
translation from share.skype.com/sites/en/2009/06/you_touch_my_skype_you_touch_m.html the
author of the original post is Jean-Jacques Saël, an employee of the Skype Europe’s GR department.
With regard to our desire to develop innovations and user rights on the Internet, the latest the few weeks were simply amazing. It's time to talk about it.
Last month, we were all surprised when the European Parliament took a firm stand and went against the governments of the EU member states, overwhelmingly accepting an amendment to the proposed new rules governing telecommunications, which secures the possibility of disconnecting Internet users from the network only by court order ( not by administrative order).
Then, last week, the French Constitutional Court, relying on the fundamental principles of the French Republic as formulated in the Declaration of Human Rights of 1789, confirmed that the proposal to disconnect users in France suspected of downloading illegal materials from the network was unacceptable.
First, it violates the presumption of innocence. Secondly, and this is critically important, the court emphasized that measures to disconnect a user from the network fall within the definition of restrictions on freedom of expression and communication - freedom to speak, write and publish. (See decision textand in particular article 16, which clarifies that "[...] pouvoirs peuvent conduire à restreindre l'exercice, par toute personne, de son droit de s'exprimer et de communiquer librement, notamment depuis son domicile [...] " yeah, all running to your favorite online translator :)
When the Council of Communications Ministers gathered for a scheduled meeting on June 12, the governments of the EU member states, as expected, officially refused to accept the will of the European Parliament, which means that consideration of the rules for the telecommunications industry in The EU will resume in the fall when the parties try to compromise on this amendment, which affects the basic rights of users.
This next (and part-time - final) phase of the negotiations promises to be fun. The parties will have to delve into the fundamental issues for society and the Internet. However, for us in Skype - this is by no means a theoretical debate: Skype users are regularly denied the right to express themselves and communicate freely. And this is not only done by governments: some network operators imagined themselves to be censors of the 21st century, reducing the quality of connections, blocking or levying Skype traffic, simply because they do not like it .
Fortunately, not all operators are so short-sighted, many people know that everyone can win from Skype - just look at the latest offer of operator “3” in the UK: just cool - you can call Skype from your mobile phone for free, without having to top up your account. Details here and here ).
Last week, news also came from this front that confused the picture completely: both Vodafone and T-Mobile (in Germany) announced that they would no longer block Skype and VoIP. That is, they solved their “technical problems”, so what? Well, something like that.
We knew from the very beginning and explained to everyone that Skype works great on mobile networks and consumes very little traffic (an average of 8-20 kbps), so the technical arguments in favor of blocking Skype could not be used by them for a long time. Instead, they now want to make consumers pay more if they want to use Skype.
Why do they even take such measures? Uh ... At the moment, we only have a very slurred explanation on the T-Mobile website, referring to technical limitations, and to be honest, it’s hard to understand from the arguments used, what exactly do they mean. As for Vodafone, we have yet to see their official explanation. So far, they have only the speech of one of their leaders at the conference on mobile communications regulation and competition law VIB in Brussels on June 10, 2009, in which, according to press reports, he said that this was not related to technical difficulties and was connected with economic considerations:
“If you do not want to use voice communications, it’s the same as if you said:“ I want to replace the existing voice communications, for example, with VoIP or other services. ” It may be so, but you cannot do this without any investment in voice services either. Our investments in users are based on the expectation that every month they will spend a certain amount, in which case they simply disappear. This undermines our entire economic model. ”
So then it is all about high profits, and not technical limitations, as we were told all the way? Not surprisingly, politicians and officials, like consumers, find this somewhat strange.
Then, Digital Britain (PDF) was published yesterday (Tuesday, June 16 ).. In the UK, not only the use of Skype, but even access to Skype.com is blocked by some mobile operators. At the same time, millions of people in Britain work in the ICT and creative industries, which make up 8% of the UK's GDP. Nevertheless, this report says almost nothing about how to implement policies that support innovation in services and applications, or about British Internet users and their right to access applications and services online of their choice. We will try to establish a dialogue with the British authorities, in particular, so that in the future their work aimed at attracting more people to the ranks of Internet users, ensuring competition and meaningful consumer choice and increasing the economic and social benefits of using the Internet,
Looking to the future, what do we expect from European governments and parliamentarians? We believe that the EU telecommunications legislation should be formulated in such a way as to clearly and clearly support fundamental human rights - after all, if the EU does not set an example in this area, then who?
European law should ensure the right of citizens to freedom of expression and communication, give them the benefits of open access to the Internet, and take into account the requirements voiced by users regarding the use and distribution of applications, content and services on the Internet. Access to the Internet, as confirmed by the French Constitutional Court, clearly belongs to the fundamental human rights to have an opinion and receive and disseminate information and ideas without interference and regardless of borders. In addition, unlimited access to content, services and applications on the Internet is a matter of maintaining and increasing the effectiveness of European and national programs to combat social exclusion and inequality, promote education, promote employment, etc.
What about us Skype users? We need to be heard. If you cannot use Skype on your mobile, call the operator and please. Write to your local politician or liaison officer and tell them that your provider is doing something very wrong, restricting your Internet access.
Soon - more on this.
author of the original post is Jean-Jacques Saël, an employee of the Skype Europe’s GR department.
With regard to our desire to develop innovations and user rights on the Internet, the latest the few weeks were simply amazing. It's time to talk about it.
Last month, we were all surprised when the European Parliament took a firm stand and went against the governments of the EU member states, overwhelmingly accepting an amendment to the proposed new rules governing telecommunications, which secures the possibility of disconnecting Internet users from the network only by court order ( not by administrative order).
Then, last week, the French Constitutional Court, relying on the fundamental principles of the French Republic as formulated in the Declaration of Human Rights of 1789, confirmed that the proposal to disconnect users in France suspected of downloading illegal materials from the network was unacceptable.
First, it violates the presumption of innocence. Secondly, and this is critically important, the court emphasized that measures to disconnect a user from the network fall within the definition of restrictions on freedom of expression and communication - freedom to speak, write and publish. (See decision textand in particular article 16, which clarifies that "[...] pouvoirs peuvent conduire à restreindre l'exercice, par toute personne, de son droit de s'exprimer et de communiquer librement, notamment depuis son domicile [...] " yeah, all running to your favorite online translator :)
When the Council of Communications Ministers gathered for a scheduled meeting on June 12, the governments of the EU member states, as expected, officially refused to accept the will of the European Parliament, which means that consideration of the rules for the telecommunications industry in The EU will resume in the fall when the parties try to compromise on this amendment, which affects the basic rights of users.
This next (and part-time - final) phase of the negotiations promises to be fun. The parties will have to delve into the fundamental issues for society and the Internet. However, for us in Skype - this is by no means a theoretical debate: Skype users are regularly denied the right to express themselves and communicate freely. And this is not only done by governments: some network operators imagined themselves to be censors of the 21st century, reducing the quality of connections, blocking or levying Skype traffic, simply because they do not like it .
Fortunately, not all operators are so short-sighted, many people know that everyone can win from Skype - just look at the latest offer of operator “3” in the UK: just cool - you can call Skype from your mobile phone for free, without having to top up your account. Details here and here ).
Last week, news also came from this front that confused the picture completely: both Vodafone and T-Mobile (in Germany) announced that they would no longer block Skype and VoIP. That is, they solved their “technical problems”, so what? Well, something like that.
We knew from the very beginning and explained to everyone that Skype works great on mobile networks and consumes very little traffic (an average of 8-20 kbps), so the technical arguments in favor of blocking Skype could not be used by them for a long time. Instead, they now want to make consumers pay more if they want to use Skype.
Why do they even take such measures? Uh ... At the moment, we only have a very slurred explanation on the T-Mobile website, referring to technical limitations, and to be honest, it’s hard to understand from the arguments used, what exactly do they mean. As for Vodafone, we have yet to see their official explanation. So far, they have only the speech of one of their leaders at the conference on mobile communications regulation and competition law VIB in Brussels on June 10, 2009, in which, according to press reports, he said that this was not related to technical difficulties and was connected with economic considerations:
“If you do not want to use voice communications, it’s the same as if you said:“ I want to replace the existing voice communications, for example, with VoIP or other services. ” It may be so, but you cannot do this without any investment in voice services either. Our investments in users are based on the expectation that every month they will spend a certain amount, in which case they simply disappear. This undermines our entire economic model. ”
So then it is all about high profits, and not technical limitations, as we were told all the way? Not surprisingly, politicians and officials, like consumers, find this somewhat strange.
Then, Digital Britain (PDF) was published yesterday (Tuesday, June 16 ).. In the UK, not only the use of Skype, but even access to Skype.com is blocked by some mobile operators. At the same time, millions of people in Britain work in the ICT and creative industries, which make up 8% of the UK's GDP. Nevertheless, this report says almost nothing about how to implement policies that support innovation in services and applications, or about British Internet users and their right to access applications and services online of their choice. We will try to establish a dialogue with the British authorities, in particular, so that in the future their work aimed at attracting more people to the ranks of Internet users, ensuring competition and meaningful consumer choice and increasing the economic and social benefits of using the Internet,
Looking to the future, what do we expect from European governments and parliamentarians? We believe that the EU telecommunications legislation should be formulated in such a way as to clearly and clearly support fundamental human rights - after all, if the EU does not set an example in this area, then who?
European law should ensure the right of citizens to freedom of expression and communication, give them the benefits of open access to the Internet, and take into account the requirements voiced by users regarding the use and distribution of applications, content and services on the Internet. Access to the Internet, as confirmed by the French Constitutional Court, clearly belongs to the fundamental human rights to have an opinion and receive and disseminate information and ideas without interference and regardless of borders. In addition, unlimited access to content, services and applications on the Internet is a matter of maintaining and increasing the effectiveness of European and national programs to combat social exclusion and inequality, promote education, promote employment, etc.
What about us Skype users? We need to be heard. If you cannot use Skype on your mobile, call the operator and please. Write to your local politician or liaison officer and tell them that your provider is doing something very wrong, restricting your Internet access.
Soon - more on this.