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Pat yourself on the back

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Published on Friday, 14 March 2014 11:20
Written by editor

Hello Paov,

We want to take a moment just to thank you and recognize all the progress our OpenMedia community has made recently.

Together we’ve delivered petitions, wrote letters to local newspapers, spread the word to our family and friends, and made our crowd-sourced rules into laws. We’d especially like to thank those of you who chose to make a special monthly commitment to Internet freedom by becoming an OpenMedia ally.

As you’ll see from our report back below, when a post-partisan community collaborates en masse, our voices amplify into a force that no decision-maker can ignore.

So take a look below, let it all sink in, and don’t be afraid to give yourself a pat on the back. You earned it.

Read on below.

The Three Pillars of... Internet Freedom

To track our progress we have broken down our work into three key pillars of Internet freedom: Access, Privacy, and Free Expression.

Pillar 1 – ACCESS: Loosening Big Telecom’s Stranglehold

One of OpenMedia.ca’s core aims is ensuring equal access to open and affordable world-class Internet. Check out our progress below, but don’t forget that today is the last day to show the CRTC that their biased “Choicebook” consultation – which will directly impact our online activities – won’t stop us from standing up to Big Telecom’s attempts to control the open Internet.

Fair Rules to Protect Mobile Phone Users: Last June, Canada took a positive step toward fixing our dysfunctional mobile phone and Internet market. After hearing the OpenMedia.ca community of Canadians, decision-makers at the CRTC announced new rules that end 3-year contracts, cap data roaming fees, and make it easier for Canadians to change providers. And the best part? This is all because you helped us crowdsource a powerful action plan.

We’re making sure policy makers put that plan into action with your help. We recently brought together a team of leading innovators, entrepreneurs, and job creators to write a letter to Industry Minister James Moore demanding rules that promote genuine choice, which the government has since responded to.

Big Telecom’s Misleading PR Campaign: So, how has Big Telecom responded to our community-led movement for affordability? They launched a huge, expensive, and downright misleading PR campaign that seeks to undo the changes we’ve made. These giants then took to the courts in a last-ditch attempt to change the rules in their favour. Don’t worry, OpenMedia.ca is right there in court making sure our voices are heard.

The public backlash to their PR blitz was huge and immediate, and your OpenMedia team launched a hard-hitting campaign demanding Industry Minister James Moore rein in out-of-control Big Telecom giants.

Connecting Canadians: To kick off 2014, we started a new chapter in our work: on January 25th, we launched our “Connected Canada” initiative, bringing together over 20,000 Canadians online and hundreds more in person to discuss our digital future, and brainstorm options to close the digital divide in communities across Canada. The message of these launch events was clear: Canadians want concerted action from decision-makers to create open and affordable independent Internet access for everyone. We made sure to highlight your views in our report that was submitted and put on the public record.

What We Want: These wins are critical, but we must keep an eye on the next steps forward: securing fair net neutrality rules, and opening up Canada’s networks to prevent telecom giants blocking Canadians from affordable Internet providers. On net neutrality, we’ve launched our Internet User’s Guide to the CRTC’s ‘Choicebook’, which aims to counter the lop-sided consultation process currently led by the CRTC, while on open networks, we’ve delivered over 25,000 citizen-submitted comments to the CRTC asking decision-makers to drop Big Telecom’s deadweight on our society.

We know we have a tough fight ahead in 2014. But already we’ve seen how we can make a real difference. Together we won new cell phone customer protection rules – rules that Big Telecom fought tooth and nail to stop. With your help, we’ll keep fighting until Canadians get the choice and lower prices they deserve. Will you stand with us by making a human-sized monthly contribution today?

Pillar 2 - PRIVACY: Who’s Watching You?

CSEC: The Centre for Spying on Everyday Canadians: We know now that government spy agency CSEC is conducting mass surveillance against thousands of law-abiding Canadians. Your OpenMedia team is fighting back, working with brave lawyers at the BCCLA to support their landmark constitutional challenge against blanket spying. Over 30,000 Canadians have sent the government a clear message: stop this secret spying and put effective legal measures in place to prevent it from ever happening again.

Building Canada’s Largest Pro-Privacy Coalition: The key to defeating government spying is to build a movement decision-makers can’t ignore. That’s why OpenMedia has led the way by building Canada’s largest-ever pro-privacy coalition. With your support, we’ve grown to over 50 major organizations from across the political spectrum, along with dozens of privacy experts. Protecting privacy is not a partisan issue, and our group of tech startups, businesses, advocacy groups, libertarian organizations, labour unions, and professional organizations will keep up the fight until we get the legal privacy protections we deserve. Stand with us today!

Exposing the Government’s New Online Spying Immunity Bill C-13: We knew this was coming. Despite their promise not to, the government has reintroduced online spying legislation that Canadians have already said no to. We defeated their last attempt - but now they’re spying on us through CSEC and trying to cover their tracks by granting immunity to telecom providers who hand over your private information without a warrant. Canadians are speaking out - and your OpenMedia team is hard at work amplifying your voices. We’re pushing back and recently launched a hard-hitting video that went viral. We beat back online spying before and, with your support, we’ll do so again.

The Day We Fought Back Together: On February 11th, OpenMedia played a key role rallying hundreds of thousands of people around the world to speak out against unchecked government surveillance. In Canada, we built a new action tool that enabled over 14,000 people to directly pressure their local MP. And we’re building momentum with leading MPs from the NDP, Liberals, and Greens now calling for new laws to stop CSEC’s reckless spying. Don’t miss this chance to tell your MP that you’ve had enough of expensive and out-of-control surveillance - you can use the tool right here.

We all have a choice. We can either stand up to protect and expand our digital rights, or accept what secret spies and Big Telecom have in store for us. We can’t let them win. Stand with us as a monthly ally today.

Pillar 3 - FREE EXPRESSION: Fighting the TPP’s Internet Censorship Plan

OurFairDeal.org: In May, we launched OurFairDeal.org, the world’s largest multi-nation coalition promoting a positive vision of balanced rules for sharing and collaborating online. Later, we sent Chief U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman a strong message that the Internet is watching, as well as a hard-hitting newspaper ad crowdfunded by our supporters.

Say No to Internet Censorship: Later, we launched the largest global campaign asking Internet users everywhere to Say No to Internet Censorship, and oppose the TPP’s extreme Internet censorship plan. And, it worked! Over 137,000 people in 141 countries have signed on since its launch and the TPP has been stalled - for now.

Raising Our Voices for Fair Rules: In order to chart a positive path forward, we knew we needed to expose the lack of legitimacy of the secretive TPP process by modeling a citizen-led visioning process for rules that serve creativity and innovation. In July, we got the ball rolling with our Internet Voice tool, which helped us crowdsource broad ideas for a fair digital future.

Based on these early findings, we launched our online drag-and-drop crowdsourcing tool to determine your priorities for sharing and collaborating online. Since the launch of both tools, we’ve seen nearly 20,000 people offer thoughts on what a positive vision for sharing online looks like.

Stop Fast Track: The next chapter in our history of collaborative international partnerships began in January. Working with our friends at Fight For The Future and nearly 100 other groups, we helped over 600,000 Americans tell Congress to stop legislation that would have rammed through the TPP’s Internet censorship plan without debate – stopping the bill dead in its tracks.

We might be a small group going up against some really large, well-funded opponents, but we know a few things about taking on big giants. Our monthly allies have played a critical role in helping us to achieve these important victories; please, consider signing up today.

We’re In This Together

The rules we fight for to govern the Internet will have a major impact on the type of society we live in for generations to come. Right from the very beginning, the Internet has always promised to level the playing field – to improve access to knowledge, create economic opportunity, and challenge the media monopolies of the 20th century.

But these promises were never guarantees. This is why the fight for Internet freedom is central to the fight for an open society that allows each of us to reach our fullest potential. And, every single day, you remind us that these are promises worth fighting for.

Thank you for being a part of this and inspiring us to keep at it,

Steve, Reilly, Josh, Jes, David, and Ron on behalf of your OpenMedia.ca team

P.S. If you believe in our work one of the most powerful things you can do to help us defend the Internet is to sign up to become a monthly ally. Monthly donations power our campaigns by giving us the long term stability we need to achieve lasting results. If you can, sign up to make a monthly gift today.

OpenMedia.caOpenMedia.ca is a non-profit organization that relies on donations from people like you to operate. Our small but dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way to make your voice heard. r32 If you did not subscribe or would like to r31.

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