Net neutrality

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu has declared that the Turkish government is contemplating bandwidth throttling measures against X, formerly Twitter, due to its failure to appoint a representative in Türkiye.

And while few can ignore all the benefits that technology has brought the world, its monetization and domination by a handful of incomprehensibly large companies has also led to an internet rampant with manipulation, horrific abuse, and pervasive tracking.

The gap between the internet speeds that service providers advertise and actual speeds remain a problem not only for Greek users but also for all their European counterparts too. Often a double-play program with an internet and landline connection that is supposed to offer a speed of 24 megabits per second is restricted to just 3 Mbps.

On February 1, 2019, the Washington DC Circuit Court of Appeals heard what is considered the most important legal case in the history of the internet. Its outcome, expected sometime this summer, will directly impact the flow of information and ultimately free speech.

There are only two countries in Europe - Finland and Bulgaria, where there are no violations of the network neutrality principles, according to the Report on network neutrality in Europe published by Austrian data protection NGO epicenter.works.

The Wikimedia Foundation decided to discontinue the free-of-charge Wikipedia Zero service for emerging markets, said engadget.com.

In November 2014, Barack Obama expressed his support for transparency of Internet access and respect for network neutrality. February 2015 this principle was laid down in FCC legislation. It obliges internet providers to treat each Internet traffic equally.

The Federal Communications Commission released a plan on Tuesday to dismantle landmark regulations that ensure equal access to the internet, clearing the way for internet service companies to charge users more to see certain content and to curb access to some websites.

By Helga Trüpel *

There are weighty contradictions in how the progressive-left camp interprets the term ‘freedom’.

When you go online on July 12, you're going to be bombarded with reminders that the Trump administration has promised to soon kill net neutrality, laying the groundwork for an internet chopped up into fast and slow lanes.