Paris, 3 March 2016 — Today, RespectMyNet.eu is being relaunched. This a joint initiative by Access Now, Bits of Freedom, Digitale Gesellschaft, EDRi, Initiative fur Netzfreiheit, IT-POL, La Quadrature du Net, Nurpa, Open Rights Group, Xnet and several individual contributors.
What is Respect My Net about?
Internet users should be in charge of their Internet connections. Instead, however, internet access providers undermine this expectation and limit our online behaviour more and more. They do this, for example, by blocking or restricting access to certain kinds of online services, contents and applications. The RespectMyNet platform will allow individuals to report abusive behaviour by internet access providers, allowing us to catalogue and report this abuse.
The adoption of the Telecommunication Single Market regulation did not clearly set the limits of Net Neutrality, leaving that work to national regulators. In order to bear witness on existing practices and to orientate the precise definition of Net Neutrality by those regulators, our associations have chosen to make the citizens participate to the making of the definition and the control of Net Neutrality.
Citizens are therefore invited to report on this website the violations of Net Neutrality so that European regulators can have a thorough database of infringements and can set up rules in consequence.
“This initiative is essential to ensure that new rules on defending the open and competitive internet are effectively implemented,” said Joe McNamee, Executive Director of European Digital Rights. “The Internet is about freedom, communication and innovation – not about short-term, anti-competitive strategies of access providers”, he added.
“European institutions failed to fulfil their mission to regulate and define Net Neutrality. It is thus up to citizens to take the fate of this fundamental principle for an open Internet in their hands and bring European regulators all necessary information for a strict definition of Net Neutrality. We call on each person able to trace infringements on Net Neutrality to participate to Respect My Net, so that Net Neutrality is not a hollow principle, but a reality within the European Union and beyond.” Said Adrienne Charmet, campaign coordinator of La Quadrature du Net.
Background:
Respect My Net is a simple platform that provides you with the opportunity of reporting how Internet access providers are violating your freedoms online, by blocking, throttling or otherwise interfering with your Internet access. Without net neutrality, our rights to freedom of expression, freedom of choice, innovation, competition, privacy and communication are at stake. In addition, Respect My Net provides you with an overview of easy-to-use tools which help monitoring whether or not your Internet Service Provider is manipulating or restricting your Internet traffic. This project will be very useful for Telecom regulators, which now have to enforce the Regulation on Net Neutrality. Respect My Net will be complementary to Save The Internet, which will be relaunched soon.
