97 rindas
4.2 KiB
HTML
97 rindas
4.2 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2016-07-25">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>Compulsory Routers: what customers have to take care of now</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>Compulsory Routers: what customers have to take care of now</h1>
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<p>Up until now, Internet service providers (ISPs) in
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Germany determined the router users had to use to connect to the
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Internet. The user had no say in this decision. This changes on August
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1. A new law will allow users choose the device that gets installed in
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their homes. The FSFE wants to ensure everybody knows about their new
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rights and is asking users to report cases in which ISPs try to avoid
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the new regulation.</p>
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<p>"Compulsory Routers" are what we call the devices imposed on users,
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forbidding them from using any other appliance to access the Internet.
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Compulsory routers are often the subject of critical security flaws
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which users can't legally or technically fix themselves. They are also
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known to be incompatible with certain network devices and standards,
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like IPv6, or to support only a small number of important features.</p>
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<p>However, the legal situation was ambiguous and ISPs defined the
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first router or modem after the wall socket as part of their network.
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They could thus bar users from controlling the technology installed
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within their own homes, despite the fact that the users were even
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paying for the electricity that run the devices.</p>
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<p>The Free Software Foundation Europe took up the fight to outlaw
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Compulsory Routers in 2013, and we have finally <a
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href="/news/2015/news-20151105-01.html">won a major landmark
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victory</a>: from August 1 onwards, clients of German internet
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providers are allowed by law to use any terminal device they choose.
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Regardless of whether it is a DSL or cable connection, the ISP will
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have to supply the information you need to connect an alternative
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router to use the Internet and telephone network.</p>
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<h2>Help us track the implementation</h2>
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<p>The law is very clear with regard to your new rights, but, based on
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past behaviours of ISPs, the FSFE must assume many providers will
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ignore the regulation and will continue to try and force their clients
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to use their default router.</p>
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<p>ISPs will probably make the argument that the law only applies to
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new customers, or that a connection to the Internet with alternative
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devices will be unstable, or denying support to clients with devices
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other than the ones they provide.</p>
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<p>We want to make sure that these misbehaviours are made public and we
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need your help for that. If you are a client of a German internet
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provider, we ask you exercise your new right and start using an
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alternative device, ideally one that runs Free Software.</p>
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<p>Once your new device is up and running, we need you to provide us
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with feedback on whether you had any issues while running your new
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router. We will collect this data and confront providers that are not
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in compliance with the new law. We have also created a <a
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href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/CompulsoryRouters/Implementation/Germany">wiki
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page</a> where we report information, testing procedures, results, and
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user experiences.</p>
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<h2>Further information</h2>
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<p>For more information on Compulsory Routers and why they are bad,
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please visit our <a href="/activities/routers/">campaign page</a>. Also
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see the <a href="/activities/routers/timeline.html">timeline of the
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most important events</a> related to this campaign. To contribute to
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this and other FSFE campaigns that defend your freedom, you can support
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us with a <a href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate">donation</a> or by becoming a <a
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href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate">sustaining member</a>.</p>
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<h2>FSFE Summit 2016</h2>
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<p>If you're interested in knowing more about how Free Software helps
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defend other important rights, we will be holding <a
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href="/summit16">the FSFE yearly summit at the beginning of September
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in Berlin</a>. Come along and discover how you can also help return the
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control over technology to people.</p>
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag key="front-page"/>
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<tag key="de"/>
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<tag key="routers">Compulsory Routers</tag>
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<tag key="competition">Competition</tag>
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<tag key="policy">Policy</tag>
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<tag key="de">Germany</tag>
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</tags>
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</html>
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