FreeByte’s Comments

• Jul 16th, 2016 @ 8:52pm

  The EU Has Free Speech Protections That Cover Software Code

  on With 4 Days Left, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Larry Lessig, And Barbara Van Schewick Beg Europe To Close Net Neutrality Loopholes
  To see why freedom of speech protections will play a major role in the legality of toll-free / zero-rated software apps (stress -- apps only) in the EU please read "The Legal Regulation of Software Interoperability in the EU". http://jeanmonnetprogram.org/archive/papers/05/050701.pdf Of note:
  "...because software constitutes expression in the sense of Art. 10 ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights]. This may come as a surprise, but one should bear in mind that source code is written in a language, and is a form of scientific expression and instructional literature (i.e. showing how to produce something). Exchanges in the form of source code amount to a search for ‘better' software through deliberation. Like mathematics for mathematicians, source code is the language of computer scientists. Scientific or instructional expression of this kind has always been at the core of the right embedded in Art. 10(1), as exemplified in Handyside, in which the prohibition to disseminate a schoolbook was at stake."
  
  When free speech protections of coders bump into net neutrality issues pertaining to software apps resident on individual devices (i.e, outside control of carriers), free speech (Article 10) will trump net neutrality regulation every time IMO.
• Jul 15th, 2016 @ 5:32am

  Zero-Rated Apps Are Likely Protected Speech

  on With 4 Days Left, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Larry Lessig, And Barbara Van Schewick Beg Europe To Close Net Neutrality Loopholes
  Not a robot 🤖.
  Just making a point generally about software code / apps being explicitly cited by the courts as a form free speech. The regulator's in the EU, India, and other jurisdictions will often look to US norms and precedents when making their own laws, so worth flagging.
• Jul 14th, 2016 @ 5:54pm

  Zero-Rated Apps Are Likely Protected Speech

  on With 4 Days Left, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Larry Lessig, And Barbara Van Schewick Beg Europe To Close Net Neutrality Loopholes
  On the issue of mobile zero-rating generally, there is another path that could avoid the conflict altogether. Mobile carriers could embrace simple, "network independent" toll-free apps and achieve the same benefits for themselves and their customers. This is because "autonomous" toll-free app tech is designed to prevent perceived forms of network induced prioritization / favoritism / price discrimination (intentional or accidental), and if implemented properly cannot violate net neutrality principles. With a network independent app, the carrier literally can't see whether the app requesting data from the network is subsidized or not by the app creator (the app acts to make the carrier "blind" as to which apps are / are not subsidized - ergo discrimination / app favoritism not possible). Also, the regulator's remit likely ends at the core network's edge -- not extending to the billions of independent apps (3rd party software, whether toll-free apps or otherwise) that already reside on phones after being installed at the sole discretion of the phone owner.
  Lastly, since software / apps are likely a First Amendment free speech protection issue (see Bernstein v. United States, Ninth Circuit), one will not wish to regulate where and how coders may or may not install their app creations as this too could limit publication freedoms for other forms of written expression. Many thanks.