For the OSCE conference "Gaining a Digital Edge: Freedom of Expression" in Vienna 14. & 15. September 2016.

1. Why Net Neutrality matters for
Freedom of Speech
Thomas Lohninger
AKVorrat.at / savetheinternet.eu
2016-09-14
OSCE: Gaining A Digital Edge 2016

2. “Many people have a pragmatic attitude toward
technology: they don't care how it works, they
just want to use it. With regard to the Internet,
this attitude is dangerous.
-Barbara van Schewick; Internet Architecture and
Innovation ; 2010; MIT Press

6. technical: slower/faster
economic: cheaper/expensive
2 Types of Discrimination

12. Net Neutrality
=
Discrimination Prevention

15. Innovation without permission

17. –Lawrence Lessig: Code and other Laws of Cyberspace, New
York: Basic Books 1999, p. 32
“Like a daydreaming postal worker,
the network simply moves the data
and leaves interpretation of the data
to the applications at either end.
This minimalism in design is intentional. It
reflects both
a political decision about disabling control
and a technological decision about
the optimal network design.”

18. –Lawrence Lessig: Code and other Laws of Cyberspace, New
York: Basic Books 1999, p. 32
“Like a daydreaming postal worker,
the network simply moves the data
and leaves interpretation of the data
to the applications at either end.
This minimalism in design is intentional. It
reflects both
a political decision about disabling control
and a technological decision about
the optimal network design.”

19. BUT WHAT ABOUT FREE SPEECH?

36. disconnected
60%
online
40%
4 billion people don’t have
internet

37. the network is here
20%
network avaible
80%
disconnected
60%
online
40%

39. –Mark Zuckerberg
“To give more people access to the
internet, it is useful to offer some services
for free.
If you can't afford to pay for connectivity,
it is always better to have some access
and voice than none at all.”

44. “It all seems to amount to economic racism—exploiting the poor
in under-developed parts of the world to become your customers
under the guise of some apparent charitable purpose.”
–Mahesh Murthy, indischer StartUp Investor

54. Thanks for your attention
thomas@lohninger.org; @socialhack; www.akvorrat.at
Keep Fighting!