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What is Net Neutrality?
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Net neutrality is the equal treatment of all data.
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Just like these data packets.
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Net neutrality means that users like us should decide which devices, software, services, and websites are used.
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Net usage should be open and without any third party telling us what will and won't work.
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Why should you care?
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Because it is an awesome thing from which you benefit every day
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and because this
awesome thing is currently endangered.
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A neutral network shows no discrimination towards the sender, content, or receiver of sent data packets.
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It doesn't make any difference which rate the sender and receiver are paying,
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or what kind of application or protocol sends or receives the packet.
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Or in simpler terms...
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Imagine the web as a road on which data packets are moving.
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This road connects all
computers that are connected to the internet.
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On the crossroads of these streets are routers,
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which direct the data packets on the right route to their destination.
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The routers don't care who comes down the road.
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Nor do they care how they look, where they are from, where they want to go, or what content they have with them.
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This way I can communicate directly with my friends
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even if they are living on a different continent, pay different rates, or have a different provider than me.
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I can access the internet to visit any website or play any game
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no matter who is offering them or where the hosting servers are located.
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I can watch any videos or read blogs from all over the world,
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and I can take part in initiatives and open source projects.
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I can do all this whether I am using a tablet, laptop, PC, or mobile device to access the internet.
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This is what the internet is all about. This is the way we expect it to work.
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We all benefit, as a community, from these neutral communication networks.
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They guarantee our access to all available content on the worldwide web.
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Because of this, the network providers earned billions within the last several years.
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Net neutrality: an awesome idea for all of us.
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So, what is the catch?
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The telecommunication providers now make the claim that these imaginary data roads could experience traffic jams.
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They want to abolish the concept of net neutrality.
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Of course, this isn't true because data networks are not real roads.
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As we know from the hardware manufacturers of this network infrastructure,
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there is enormous untapped capacity in the network.
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Not to mention, operators of content distribution
networks tell us that data traffic is unbelievably cheap.
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But why are telecommunication companies making these claims?
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For years these connection providers have been jealously looking at the biggest profit centres of the internet's service providers:
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content providers, search engines, video platforms and social networks.
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They all want their share of these profits as the digital age reduces traditional revenue streams.
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Now, they want not only to transport data, they also want to exert power and control on whatever is offered.
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So how do they want to do that?
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To achieve this, the telecommunication providers have considered splitting the data into categories, or rather castes.
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The lowest caste of this system would be the regular internet,
which would only be available for a limited amount of data,
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and would have to take a back seat to higher castes when being sent through the data network.
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The highest caste contains content from the net provider, segregated from the internet,
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and would receive preferential treatment and unlimited access – naturally through an extrasubscription.
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Between these, many other priority levels are possible.
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For example, a caste for data from social networks that raises a traffic data toll for the social network provider.
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This of course means that the receiver will have to pay for an extra subscription
as well.
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In the same manner, an extra service to provide games for consoles or reading online newspapers could be implemented.
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They would be separate from the internet, and both the distributor of the service and their customers can be charged for it.
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Competitive offers would be restricted or blocked.
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So how does this work?
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Let us go back to imagining the data network as roads.
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The router, which originally directed data to the right route, would be upgraded with toll stations that scan through the data and separate them by castes.
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Depending on the caste, they could use a special road that was separated from the main road, in order to reach their destination faster.
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If the toll was paid for data of a lower caste, they will have to use the slower, regular road.
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If no payment for the data was made by the sender, it would be assigned to a lower caste
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and would only be allowed to use the street if it is empty and not too many data packets have passed through the toll station.
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Should they be part of programs, services, content or senders that are not liked by the telecommunication provider
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they will be slowed down excessively, sorted through, and possibly even destroyed.
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Moreover, if this was not clear: we customers do always pay, no matter if a service provider pays toll as sender or not.
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Therefore, our data traffic might get limited and we have pay for more data traffic subscriptions.
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So what does this mean?
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Non-commercial services and community projects, like Wikipedia for example,
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could not afford this caste toll and would have limited availability, or not be available at all.
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Direct communication with friends and acquaintances could be filtered or blocked as a rival to established models of service and commerce.
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Once such a control and filter infrastructure is introduced and established, filtering and discarding of unwelcome data like competitive offers or services can be done easily.
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Filtering opinions, information or political viewpoints is just a small change in the system settings.
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What if we let infringement of net neutrality happen?
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Such a process is very difficult to reverse, if it's possible at all.
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We would lose the richness of the internet, the variety of options through which we shape the net.
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We would lose much content because providers cannot afford the toll of the telecommunication enterprise any more.
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We would lose the free competition and by this the release of new services of smaller companies or community projects.
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The free access to content and information that we currently enjoy would be gone.
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There would be a two, three or four class model of the internet,
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or even not just one internet but many, and different content would be available in different nets.
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Think of it like a set of TV channels from a pay-tv provider, where in addition to basic programmes, there are premium programmes that are charged differently depending on the channel.
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You could only access whatever the providers offer and expect to be profitable.
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The network operators’ regime would severely limit today’s freedom of information on the internet.
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And for this loss, we would have to pay more.
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However, our providers say they would never do such a thing; it is just something like a rise in price!
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But of course, the telecommunication providers have been proven to lie right to our faces regarding the legality of arguments to break net neutrality.
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For example, the claim of non-available capacity, or that countries with laws for net neutrality would have a slower internet connection.
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If they already lying at this point, why would they tell the truth by promising to build a faster net with the additional money
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while claiming they will not sift through our data, even though they need it in order to make the caste system work?
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How can they possibly keep the richness and the competition with such a system?
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Therefore: Protest with us!
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Request statutory regulations for net neutrality in your country and in the EU!
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Demand equal treatment of data!
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Reject preferential treatment of premium data in exchange for a worse treatment of your personal data!
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Stand up against network locks and an artificial deceleration!
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Fight for a free and open communication network, in which we together as community benefit from!
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Demand non-manipulated data traffic!
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Reject the discrimination or prioritizing of data, no matter what the reason!
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Nobody has the right to be the snooping in our traffic. Nothing justifies it.
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We are all entitled to net neutrality even in mobile networks!
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Real net, now and in future!