PETITION
– DEFEND THE INTERNET
Dear
Avaazers,
Authoritarian
regimes are pushing for governmental control over the internet in
a binding global treaty.
If they succeed, the internet could become less open, more costly
and much slower. We've stopped threats like this before, and we
can again -- but only with a massive global outcry. Sign
the petition and share
with everyone you know:
|
Right
now at a UN meeting in Dubai, authoritarian
regimes are pushing for full governmental control of the Internet in
a binding global treaty
-- if they succeed, the internet could become less open, more costly
and much slower. We have only 2 days to stop them.
The
Internet has been an amazing example of people power -- allowing
us to connect, speak out and pressure leaders like never before.
That's largely because it's been governed to date by users and
non-profits and not governments. But now countries like Russia, China
and United Arab Emirates are trying to rewrite a major telecom treaty
called the ITR to bring the Internet under its control -- the web
would then be shaped by government interests and not by us, the
users. Tim Berners Lee, one of
the "fathers of the Internet," has warned that this could
increase censorship online and invade our privacy.
But if we object with a massive people-powered petition, we can
strengthen the hand of countries fighting this power grab.
We
have stopped attacks like this before and can do it again before the
treaty text is locked this week. A wave of opposition to a new ITR is
already building -- sign the
petition to tell governments hands off our Internet!
and then forward this email to everyone you know -- when we hit 1
million signers, it'll be delivered straight to the delegates at this
cozy meeting:
The
meeting to update the ITR (International Telecommunication
Regulations) is being convened by a UN body called the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU). Normally, it wouldn't merit much
attention, but Russia, China,
Saudi Arabia and others are trying to use the meeting to increase
government control
of the Internet through proposals that would allow for access to be
cut off more easily, threaten privacy, legitimize monitoring and
traffic-blocking, and introduce new fees to access content online.
At
the moment, our Internet has no central regulatory body, but various
non-profit organisations work together to manage different
technological, commercial and political interests to allow the
Internet to run. The current model is certainly not without its
flaws. US dominance and
corporate influence highlight the need for reform,
but changes should not be dictated from an opaque governments-only
treaty body. They should emerge from an open and transparent,
people-powered process -- putting the interests of us users in the
center.
The
ITU does extremely important work -- expanding affordable access for
poor countries and securing networks -- but it's not the right place
to make changes to how the Internet operates. Let's ensure that our
Internet stays free and governed by the public and show
the ITU and the world that we won’t stay silent in the face of this
Internet attack. Click below to sign
and then share this email widely:
Avaaz
members have come together before to save the free web -- and won.
More than 3 million of us demanded the US kill a bill that would have
given the government the right to shut down any website, helping push
the White House to drop its support. In the EU, the European
Parliament responded after 2.8 million of us called on them to drop
ACTA, another threat to the free net. Together, now we can do it
again.
With
hope,
Pascal,
Ian, Paul, Luca, Caroline, Ricken, Kya and the rest of the Avaaz team
SOURCES
Cerf
and Berners Lee Criticize ITU Conference (IT Pro Portal):
ITU
and Google face off at Dubai conference over future of the internet
(Guardian):
Keep
the Internet Open (New York Times):
Proposal
for global regulation of web (Financial Times):
Who
controls the Internet? (Guardian):
To
sign the petition GO
HERE
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