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<blockquote><font face="Verdana">From Google's sign-on campaign
</font><br>
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<font color="#444444">“<font face="Times New Roman, serif"><font
style="font-size: 13pt" size="3"><span
style="font-style: normal"><span
style="font-weight: normal">A
free and open world depends on a free and open
Internet. Governments
alone, working behind closed doors, should not
direct its future. The
billions of people around the globe who use the
Internet should have
a voice.”</span></span></font></font></font></p>
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<br>
<a
href="https://www.google.com/takeaction/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=112012freeandopen#make-your-voice-heard">https://www.google.com/takeaction/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=112012freeandopen#make-your-voice-heard</a>
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<font face="Verdana"><br>
Dear Google; Yes, the world indeed needs an open Internet, for
which reason it is rather awful to note that you, meaning, Google;<br>
<br>
1) Sold the entire net neutrality campaign </font><font
face="Verdana">down the drain </font><font face="Verdana">in the
US, by first assuming its leadership and then entering into a
self-serving agreement with Verizon, whereby the main means of
accessing the Internet in the future - mobiles - are exempted from
net neutrality provisions. <br>
<br>
2) Have recently entered into exclusive arrangements with telecos
to provide Gmail, Google + and Google Search for free in some
developing countries (Philippines) , and as a special low cost
package exclusively of a few Internet services (and not the full,
public Internet) in others (India), which makes a mockery of an
open and net neutral Internet.<br>
<br>
3) Tweak your search results, which is increasingly the main way
of accessing </font><font face="Verdana">locations on the </font><font
face="Verdana">Internet, in non-transparent ways, with increasing
evidence that this is done in a manner that merely serves your own
commercial interests and goes against consumer/ public interest,
and for which reasons Google is currently subject to regulatory
investigations in the US and EU. <br>
<br>
( There are hundreds of other outrages, big and small, including
the fact that </font><font face="Verdana">today I </font><font
face="Verdana">suddenly see my default browser getting set for
"Chrome' when I prefer and have always used Mozilla Firefox and
never asked for the </font><font face="Verdana">change of </font><font
face="Verdana">default.)<br>
<br>
I cannot see anything other than effective regulation of the
Internet to be able to check such excesses by Internet companies
that are deeply compromising the openness of the Internet
(sticking here to only to the subject of openness of the Internet,
used in above appeal by Google). <br>
<br>
So, lets be honest, it is not about people versus ITU, not even,
Google versus ITU, or even Google versus content regulation; it is
Google versus any regulation of the Internet space so that Google,
and similarly positioned dominant players, can have a free run
over the economic, social and political resources of the world. <br>
<br>
It is very important to wage the needed struggles to keep
Internet's content free from undue statist controls. But one needs
to be careful about whom one chooses as partners, nay, leaders of
the campaign. Remember, the lessons from the net neutrality
campaign in the US which was sold cheap by those who assumed its
leadership. Also, have no doubt whatsoever that ACTAs and PIPAs
will come back in new forms, accommodating the interests of the
big Internet companies that led the opposition in the first round.
(Anyone wanting to take a bet on this! :) ) And. when the second
round happens, since 'our leaders' would have crossed over, there
wouldnt be much fight left to give. <br>
<br>
For sure, make opportunistic, tactical, alliances, but civil
society needs to be careful not to abandon leadership of public
interest causes to players who cannot but become turncoat and,
well, betray, - sooner or later getting into bed with whoever is
economically and politically powerful around to help their
business prosper. Such is the structural logic of big business.
Let them stick to what they do best - organise productive forces
of the world. Leave public interest causes to public interest
players - civil society and governments. However, if the sentiment
is simply overflowing, maybe just donate some money to such
causes, in an arms- lenght /hands-off approach vis a vis managing
the precise activities involved. I simply dont fancy corporate-led
'public interest' campaigns. <br>
<br>
One was stuck by the number of Google organised panels at the Baku
IGF, where they openly took part and gave their policy pitch. As a
participant from Pakistan said at a workshop ' I find a Google
representative at every panel that I am at'. Such brash presence
at policy forums and taking strong policy positions by corporates
is a relatively new game, and to my mind not a welcome thing for
our democracies. I keep hoping that civil society would give this
phenomenon a deeper thought and analysis, rather than just riding
the bandwagon. <br>
<br>
parminder <br>
<br>
</font>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On Wednesday 21 November 2012 04:47 AM,
Fouad Bajwa wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAHuaJtO5ugg_92d=vV4m9Q0ehAJXu4RkS7gTN55GzvAF4e+ARQ@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Just saw Google's Fight the ITU/WCIT website
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.google.com/intl/en/takeaction/">https://www.google.com/intl/en/takeaction/</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.google.com/intl/fr/takeaction/">https://www.google.com/intl/fr/takeaction/</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.google.com/intl/es/takeaction/">https://www.google.com/intl/es/takeaction/</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.google.com/intl/ar/takeaction/">https://www.google.com/intl/ar/takeaction/</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.google.com/intl/zh-CN/takeaction/">https://www.google.com/intl/zh-CN/takeaction/</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.google.com/intl/pt-BR/takeaction/">https://www.google.com/intl/pt-BR/takeaction/</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.google.com/intl/ru/takeaction/">https://www.google.com/intl/ru/takeaction/</a>
(thanks to a colleague for sharing!)
</pre>
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