EU just ended Net Neutrality (oops)

Akrasia wrote: »

Which package gets me all you can eat porn?

That would be the basic package plus €59.99 p/m discreetly listed on your bill as "DIY talk n' tips"

People don't understand the extent to which EU politics is dominated by lobby groups - Brussels is second in the world, only to Washington, where it comes to the power of lobby groups, with huge amounts of money being spent for this purpose - don't underestimate the power of these groups, to corrupt the EU and parliament:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/08/lobbyists-european-parliament-brussels-corporate

For instance, here is a lengthy report citing much to fault with the operation of the EU - including parliament:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/business/international/anti-corruption-group-finds-fault-with-european-union.html?_r=0

Recommend the documentary 'The Brussels Business', for a good analysis of the problem as well:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2279313/


People - up until recently - might think the EU is relatively benign when it comes to lawmaking and whatnot, due to good regulations regarding quality food and such - but we're going to fast see all of the 'good' regulations from the EU disappear, when international treaties like TTIP start completely stripping away all the good that has been done, in order to integrate EU and US markets (i.e. in order to open up the EU, to all of the sub-par produce from the US, that is currently illegal here).

So, I can realistically see a complete U-turn on the way for the EU, where it starts being used to deliberately enforce blatantly damaging policies like this current net-neutrality-ending one, in order to suit corporate interests, at the expense of the public.

We've already seen how projects aimed at European integration - the Euro most especially - have been a trap/backdoor that is now being used to control countries politically (control over currency in bad economic times = effective control over countries politically, and can be used to keep countries under 'bad economic times' i.e. under permanent political control), and if people aren't a lot more active in opposing EU-level lobbying and international 'trade' treaties, we're going to see international 'treaties' and the EU, both used to cement control over European countries, and strip more power away from the national level.

People think the future of the EU is going to - eventually - be democratic. Reality is that there's a very good chance that it won't be, unless the public become a lot more politically active/attentive (the trend so far has been a gradual erosion of democracy, combined with creeping corporate influence at an EU level).

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

TTIP is not through yet. In any case, net neutrality wouldn't be an issue there. ISDS exists to protect foreign firms against discrimination. Net Neutrality does not discriminate.

That's a very sanitized reading of ISDS. ISDS exists to further strip nations of their sovereignty, and put them at the whims of largely unaccountable international courts, where they (whole nations) can be subject to sanctions.

ISDS is a method of enforcing a very specific and limited set of political goals, centered almost entirely around deregulation/privatization - as its purpose is to create a significant cost to nations, for having/implementing regulations, and to create a bigger impetus for deregulation/privatization (by manufacturing a new artificial 'cost' to nations, for just keeping existing regulations/nationalized-industry).

Keep in mind, the pressure countries are under in tough economic times, to rein in the budget and spin-off public services, and imagine then, how ISDS can then be used as a threat to impose even greater cost/sanction on countries, if they do not strip away regulations and further spin off public services into privatization - it's a huge political and economic threat to countries, that will be opportunistically used by politicians, as an excuse for pursuing (and hastening on) the above policies.

It's a good example of tipping powers in favour of corporations, not just over the public, but over entire nations - and a massive threat to the sovereignty and democratic integrity of those nations.


International courts like that, have pretty much zero democratic accountability, and there is little recourse or way to impose accountability, if they become corrupt or their process becomes easily gameable/corruptible by corporations - as ISDS courts have a history of.

These kinds of policies, tend to be promoted by people who think the idea of national sovereignty (and almost of democracy itself) is passé or such - which is a very common sentiment that seems to be expressed by some of the more staunch defenders of EU integration as well, seeing as that is leading to an acceleration erosion of national sovereignty and democracy.


The very fact that treaties like this are even close to being enacted, and have gotten to such an advanced stage of negotiation, is extremely alarming really...