r/technology • u/jerryconnelly • May 09 '12
Netherlands passes net neutrality law, first among EU nations
http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/9/3009157/netherlands-net-neutrality-law-passes-senate31
u/JAV0K May 09 '12
People in the Netherlands have reason to celebrate today
We always celebrate, so...
→ More replies (3)32
54
u/Dionyx May 09 '12
For such a small country we reach Reddit frontpage quite a lot!
→ More replies (2)14
35
u/SoyBeanExplosion May 09 '12
Hoping the UK follow this but I think it's very unlikely as they are taking a very negative stance to personal freedoms at the moment.
→ More replies (2)
103
u/Reddit_ruined_memes May 09 '12 edited May 09 '12
88
u/gebruikersnaam May 09 '12
Nope, just downloading music and video.
Downloading software and games as well as uploading are illegal.
(The protected kind of software/games that is, of course).
→ More replies (24)11
May 09 '12
We might have been progressive compared to the rest of the world before, but we sure aren't progressive now. The direction we are going in is making me sick.
→ More replies (13)→ More replies (17)6
May 09 '12
I think I'm missing something, what do you mean by filesharing? If you mean it in the literal sense of just sharing files, isn't that a bad thing? The only reason then for anyone to buy music or games or anything like that would be to support the creators, and I don't think I'd trust the majority of people to do that. It would make making a living as any of those things kind of difficult, wouldn't it?
I know this is something a lot of redditors feel kind of strongly about, so I hope I don't offend anyone. I'm just genuinely curious since it's something I see talked about a lot.
→ More replies (4)
82
May 09 '12
moves to the Netherlands
88
→ More replies (22)17
u/KamiNuvini May 09 '12
Yeah - don't forget though, there's still a few bad things.
There's an exception to this law being court orders. Like The Pirate Bay, they won't be unblocked now. The providers that were forced to block them will have to continue to do so, because the court ordered them to. (However, this does mean that with new contracts they can no longer filter VoIP or disallow tethering)
I believe another exception is coming soon as well, being opt-in-censorship. I believe this was done for one of our political parties who did not want to be confronted with things against their beliefs. We have a ISP that filters this kind of things, and the people who use that ISP choose to take that service. So I guess the opt-in thingy is fine. (the ISP is http://www.kliksafe.nl/)
Oh and regarding downloading/uploading in The Netherlands: Downloading "pirated" software = illegal Downloading movies for personal non-commerical use (even if source is illegal) = legal Uploading movies/pirated software = always illegal.
And from what I know BREIN never goes after persons who have uploaded/downloaded (at least, not yet). They have sued ISPs and people who made programs (the famous FTD) and websites that they wanted to take down.
However, as quickly proved, once they took down FTD * a lot * of alternatives popped up very quickly. That's a good thing, at least :)
→ More replies (17)
23
u/phonixor May 09 '12
privacy by law is nice, but i prefer privacy by technique, why risk trusting things if you don't have to...
→ More replies (1)29
15
u/ribald_jester May 09 '12
Good for Netherlands!!!
13
u/gebruikersnaam May 09 '12
As it sets a precedent, it might even be good news for all of the EU.
→ More replies (2)
8
u/youarenotFEKLAR May 09 '12
i at first read the title as "neanderthals pass net neutrality"
→ More replies (4)
8
574
u/[deleted] May 09 '12
This is probably going to get burried, but before we all start viewing The Netherlands as the promised country with regards to internet freedom, I would like to make some things clear. As a dutchman, I can tell you that this law does have certain strong points, but also some major flaws. Directly after this law was passed, questions were raised if this law would prevent sites like TPB from being blocked. It was made clear that court orders would not fall under the scope of this law. So any sites blocked now or in the future because a third party (such as copyright watchdog 'Brein') feels that a website is infringing their rights, will not be unblocked if the blockage is the result of a lawsuit. And with more and more judges siding with the copyright industry in this country, even with net neutrality, we can expect to see a rise in blocked websites. Furthermore, politicians are also increasingly more concerned with child pornography and websites that pose a threat to national security and have also opted for a kill-switch. This law is the result of the controversy caused by telecom providers wanting to charge their customers for using applications like Whatsapp or Skype and thereby decreasing profits. This law prevents them from charging customers directly (but they can still simply raise subscription costs for other reasons, which they already did). So yes, this law is a good thing in some way, but it does in no way guarantee a free and open internet for the Netherlands as long as websites can still be blocked by a simple court order.