MEP Malcolm Harbour has attacked the OpenNet coalition of user NGOs and ISPs on the European Parliament website. The  rapporteur for the Universal Services and Users Rights directive, accuses a group of knowledgable users of 'pure fantasy.' His article  appears to be part of  a series of moves to close down all opposition to the Telecoms Package plenary vote today in the European Parliament.  

 The OpenNet coalition, which runs the Blackout Europe site has been angered by an attack from Malcolm Harbour which  accuses them of ‘pure fantasy' in respect of their interpretation of the Telecoms Package amendments. He names the Blackout Europe website on  a ‘major  news ‘ page posted on the European Parliament's website, where he says he  is "astonished" to see their text  and claims that "the Telecoms Package has never been anything to do with restrictions on the Internet".  

The Opennet coalition has responded with a robust rebuttal of Mr Harbour's ‘fantasy' allegation and suggest that, on the contrary,  his claims are misinforming the European public. It  exposes  the real issues  behind his claims by citing several examples where he himself has been quoted discussing restrictions to Internet services (see link below). The coaltion consists of NGOs from almost all member states, including Italy's

A key new amendment enshrining the operator's right to block Internet content will not be voted on. It is tucked into the "compromise" document, which will be voted as a block.This appears to be a breach of procedure and should be seriously questioned.

This is amendment number 103 on the HARBOUR report. Within this document, you will find Article 2a and Recital 22a. Neither of these was voted on in the IMCO committee vote on 31 March. At that point, they had not been written. Mr Harbour said that he wanted to re-write the original Amendment 166, but did not indicate how he proposed to do so. The committee voted on the original Amendment 166 and carried it.

Article 2a and Recital 22a of the Universal Services and users rights directive, both say the same thing - that operators will nto be prohibited from blocking Internet users access

Who gives Vodafone  the right to decide whether or not I need my Blackberry emails on a Saturday afternoon?  At the heart of problem with  the Telecoms Package, is such a very simple question. With a  few simple words, "conditions limiting access to and/or use of applications and services" the Telecoms Package reverses the users right to roam in cyberspace, into an operator's right to set up cyber road-blocks.   A licence to chill.

 I am grateful  to Celia Blanco for additional analysis which contributed to this article. 

I find it odd that in Europe in 2009, I am writing an article asking politicians  to protect free speech. But the Telecoms Package  represents a serious attack on our civil liberties, in a most sinister way. Sinister, because it gives the industries concerned the go-ahead to  use powerful equipment and turn it against their users, if they choose to do so.  

What is the problem with the Telecoms Package that Internet users don't like?

Basically, it is quite simple. The Telecoms Package legalises something the operators have already started doing - that is, selectively blocking Internet services as and when it suits them.

On Saturday afternoon, 2 May,   Vodafone blocked my Blackberry emails (Oh, yes, they did!). Now,  should Vodafone decide whether or not I need my Blackberry emails on a Saturday afternoon? My heckles go up. No, of course, they shouldn't! I decide!

This is precisely the policy question that  MEPs are being asked  to consider with the Telecoms Package. In a simplistic and personal way, I am using it to illustrate an abstract issue. Should the Parliament legitimise bad

The fight to defend the Internet has been taken up by the three smaller parties in the European Parliament - Greens, Independents and Left groups. They have tabled a group of amendments to the Telecoms Package -  dubbed the Citizen's Rights Amendments - which guarantee users rights of access to Internet services. They provide an antidote to the Internet-limiting "compromise"  by the Parliament and  will have the effect of keeping the Internet open for users and business. And the reinforce the position taken in the Bono and Lambrinidis votes. 

A bundle of amendments designed to put the  user back into the heart  of the Telecoms Package has been tabled for the plenary vote next Wednesday by the three smaller groups in the European Parliament.  Dubbed the  Citizens rights amendments, (see below for links)  they provide  a formal guarantee of access for Internet users for the first time in EU law, plus  provisions which empower national regulators to oversee the users interests in Internet access provision.  They were tabled by the GUE/NGL (left) group, the Ind/Dem group (Independent), and (most of them) byt the Green group.

 The big problem with the  so-called "compromise" agreed by Parliament's rapporteurs with the Council, is that it is drafted to meet the network operator's perceived interests, and not users. Contrary to the rapporteurs' claims, it  actually bears the risk of reducing  

Malcolm Harbour has launched an attack on Swedish Internet-defender MEP Christofer Fjellner. And the users rights directive rapporteur   says that the discussions around Internet  rights amendments 138 and 166 were ‘deeply frustrating'   because they ‘could derail two years' of work'.  Is there an   implication  that he has spent two years on an industry deal, which these amendments could squash?  It does suggest that  his amendments to the directive are not, as he claims, designed for users, but for network operators.

*** In this video, taken at an EU conference in Prague on 16th April, Mr Harbour says that "net neutrality and content" are "comparatively minor issues" and that "service limitations...could certainly include restrictions on access to services like voice over IP..customers may wish to buy a service with limitations if it's cheaper".   He is speaking about the Telecoms Package. His comments confirm the view that 'limitations' in his "compromise"  to the Universal Services and Users Rights directive, are indeed about blocking Internet services and "packaging" the Internet.  (Scroll to session 2, Mr Harbour is first speaker)  ***

Malcolm Harbour, the European Parliament rapporteur for the Universal Services and Users Rights directive, has launched an attack on Swedish MEP Christofer Fjellner,  in a letter sent to all members of the European Parliament last night. The letter (see below) asks MEPs not to support the users rights amendment 166,  and defends  Mr Harbour's own position (see also below).  Although  in itself  the letter