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	Protect Net Neutrality and Internet Freedom by Free Press, World Wide Web Foundation, agencies USA   Dec. 14, 2017   Republican FFC proposal to end net neutrality protections passes with a 3-2 vote.   The nonpartisan First Amendment advocacy group Free Press vowed to take the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to court after the Republican-controlled panel moved to gut net neutrality protections that prohibit internet service providers (ISPs) from charging for and discriminating against content, in a 3-2 vote along party lines.   The ACLU released a statement calling the "misguided" decision "a radical departure that risks erosion of the biggest free speech platform the world has ever known."   "Today''s loss means that telecommunications companies will start intruding more on how people use the internet. Internet service providers will become much more aggressive in their efforts to make money off their role as online gatekeepers," said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst for the group.   Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also denounced the ruling: ''Once again, the Trump administration has sided with big money and against the interests of the American people. The FCC''s vote to end net neutrality is an egregious attack on our democracy. With this decision the internet and its free exchange of information as we have come to know it will cease to exist. The end of net neutrality protections means that the internet will be for sale to the highest bidder, instead of everyone having the same access regardless of whether they are rich or poor, a big corporation or small business, a multimedia conglomerate or a small online publication. At a time when our democratic institutions are already in peril, we must do everything we can to stop this decision from taking effect''.   The two Democratic commissioners on the panel, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, issued powerful dissents ahead of the vote, with Clyburn noting, "The fight to save net neutrality does not end today. This agency does not have, the final word."   In addition to Free Press''s plan to sue the FCC, the group urged supporters to push Congress to nullify the plan using the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows representatives and senators to review new regulations and overrule them by passing a joint resolution.   Forty senators have voiced opposition to the net neutrality rollback, while a handful of Republican representatives have said they disagree with Pai''s plan. But the loudest opposition so far has come from the public and groups like Free Press and Fight for the Future.   "Why are we witnessing such an unprecedented groundswell of public support" for net neutrality, asked Clyburn in her dissent. "Because the public can plainly see a soon-to-be-toothless FCC is handing the keys to the Internet to a handful of multi-billion dollar corporations."   With the vote, Internet Service Providers will no longer be prohibited from blocking or slowing down certain websites and content, and will be able to charge fees to web companies that can afford to pay them for access to an internet "fast lane," leaving smaller sites struggling to reach audiences.   Despite comments from millions of Americans who spoke out in favor of the protections, Pai did not mention the widespread opposition to net neutrality in his order to repeal the rules.   21 Nov. 2017   The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to give Internet providers power to choose the internet sites customers see and use. (Washington Post, agencies)   The Federal Communications Commission took aim at a signature Obama-era regulation this week, unveiling a plan that would give Internet providers broad powers to determine what websites and online services their customers see and use.   Under the agency’s proposal, providers of high-speed Internet services, such as Comcast, Verizon and AT&T, would be able to block websites they do not like and charge Web companies for speedier delivery of their content.   The FCC’s effort would roll back its net neutrality regulation which was passed in 2015 and attempted to make sure all Web content, whether from big or small companies, would be treated equally by Internet providers.   Ajit Pai, who was nominated to head the FCC by Trump in January, has said undoing the net neutrality rules was one of his top priorities.   Pai’s remarks were cheered by conservatives as well as cable, broadband and wireless companies, which provide most of the Internet service to American homes, smartphones and other devices.   Pai’s announcement set off a firestorm of criticism from Internet companies and activists who vowed to hold demonstrations ahead of the FCC''s vote.   The Free Press Action Fund and other net neutrality activist groups said they would organize protests outside Verizon stores and accused Pai of doing the company’s bidding. Pai served as an associate general counsel at Verizon for two years beginning in 2001.   Former Democratic FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, who drafted the 2015 net neutrality rules, called the move “tragic”. “The job of the FCC is to represent the consumer,” he said in an interview. “Tragically, this decision is only for the benefit of the largely monopoly services that deliver the Internet to the consumer.”   Relying on the public promises of Internet providers is a departure from current net neutrality rules, which lay out clear bans against selectively blocking or slowing websites, as well as speeding up websites that agree to pay the providers a fee.   FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn says at the most basic level, net neutrality is the principle that "all data and all legal traffic that travels over the internet should be treated equally". "This has been a bipartisan bedrock principle for more than a decade, and its extremely popular among the public."   ''Pai''s plan would do away with net neutrality, it eliminates all prohibitions against blocking and throttling (slowing down) applications by broadband providers, and enables them to engage in paid prioritization and unreasonable discrimination at the point of interconnection. It ignores thousands of consumer complaints and millions of individual comments that ask the FCC to save net neutrality and uphold the principles that all traffic should be created equal."   Nov. 2017   Protect Net Neutrality and Internet Freedom, by Tim Berners-Lee. (World Wide Web Foundation)   How do you use the World Wide Web? People use it for all kinds of different things: to read email, post an update on social media, check in to a work meeting, navigate to a destination, enjoy a favorite song or album. It’s your choice.   When I invented the World Wide Web as an information sharing system in 1989, I aimed to create a neutral space where everyone could create, share, debate, innovate, learn and dream. That’s why I gave my invention away for free, so that anyone, anywhere could access and build on it without permission. My vision was an online space that would give people freedom — and America’s entrepreneurial, optimistic spirit embraced it with enthusiasm.   In the early days, there was a wonderful spirit of empowerment of individuals. I could read any blog I liked, and I could write my own blog with links pointing to my favorite things. Anyone could put their small business online.   Now that vision is threatened. That choice you have to use the Web for whatever you want could be taken away.   Today, one of the greatest threats to the Web in America is the plan by the Federal Communications Commission to roll back America’s open Internet safeguards. Net neutrality is the fundamental principle that all content should be treated equally online. It’s what ensures those millions of local businesses can compete on an equal footing with corporate giants. It’s what stops Internet and cable providers from slowing down services for those who don’t pay a premium, or blocking content that doesn’t boost their own bottom lines.   Why should this matter to you? Most Americans — 87% — use the Internet for everything from accessing information to earning money to watching their favorite shows and movies. About 6 million American students take college courses online. And American entrepreneurs depend on the Web to expand their businesses: By 2018, 92% of small businesses plan to have their own website. Without strong net neutrality safeguards, Internet and cable providers will have the power to control which services you access and how.   This week, I was in Washington telling America’s regulators and lawmakers the story of the Web’s invention, and explaining how dismantling net neutrality will result in fewer choices for consumers. But I need to ask you — the American public — to join me in making sure the United States retains its position as a leader of the free and open Internet.   Please help. If you believe a small group of companies should not control what you can access online, if you want your small business to be given a level online playing field, if you want the freedom to surf the Web freely with the same rights and privileges as others — call your congressional representatives today to urge them to stop the FCC from overturning net neutrality.   Tell members of Congress that American voters deserve the free, open, neutral Internet that we need to support democracy. Let them know that the Web is for everyone, and that we stand together, ready to fight for it.   If you live in the US, call your congressional representative and urge them to protect net neutrality.   * Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor of the World Wide Web and a director of the World Wide Web Foundation, published by USA Today.   http://webfoundation.org/2017/11/protect-net-neutrality-and-internet-freedom-world-wide-web-inventor/ http://wapo.st/2A0FjeP http://nyti.ms/2BzJWMN http://bit.ly/2AoTpcm http://www.freepress.net/ http://www.battleforthenet.com/ http://pioneersfornetneutrality.tumblr.com/ http://billmoyers.com/story/net-neutrality-vote-kill-open-internet/ http://www.battleforthenet.com/july12/ http://www.aclu.org/feature/what-net-neutrality http://www.savetheinternet.com/net-neutrality http://bit.ly/2njABUL http://www.commondreams.org/tag/net-neutrality   * Access the Free Press via the link below for the latest news. Visit the related web page
	France marks first national commemoration of Armenian genocide by FRANCE 24 with AFP   France held its first "national day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide" on Wednesday, fulfilling a pledge by President Emmanuel Macron that sparked an angry response from the Turkish government.   Macron announced the commemoration at a meeting with representatives of the country’s large Armenian community in February, honouring a promise made during his 2017 presidential campaign.   France was the first major European country to recognise the massacres as genocide in 2001, following a lengthy struggle that has strained relations with Turkey.   For decades, Armenia and Turkey have been at odds over whether the World War I killings and deportations – which Armenia says left 1.5 million dead – should be described as genocide.   Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed but denies that the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide.   Macron’s announcement in February drew an angry response from Ankara, with a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declaring: “No one can sully our history.”   French MP Jacques Marilossian, a member of Macron''s Republic on the Move (LREM) party whose grandparents immigrated to France from Armenia, told FRANCE 24 that his grandparents never spoke about the genocide. More than a century later, Marilossian said he did not blame Turkey or the Turkish people, but the Turkish government at that time. "We should find a way to tell them we are not blaming Turkey for that [the massacres]. We are blaming the Turkish government in 1915."   Earlier this month, Turkey also chastised the Italian parliament for approving a motion to officially recognise the killings as genocide.   Armenians commemorate the massacres on April 24 – the day in 1915 when thousands of Armenian intellectuals suspected of harbouring nationalist sentiment and being hostile to Ottoman rule were rounded up.   French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe led the commemorations in France on Wednesday, laying flowers at a Monument for the Armenian Genocide erected on the northern bank of the river Seine in April 2003.   "France intends to contribute to the recognition of the Armenian genocide as a crime against humanity, against civilisation," said Philippe. "What we are looking for is historical accuracy and reconciliation," he said. Visit the related web page
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