After months of often bitter debate, European Union lawmakers reached agreement on how to preserve citizen’s rights to Internet access in a meeting that ended in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The issue, which pits citizens’ civil liberties against the rights of content owners such as record and movie companies to protect creative works on the Internet, has blocked the passage of a wide range of laws collectively dubbed the telecoms package. . .

. . . The text of the telecoms package now contains a new Internet freedom provision that states that access to the Internet is a human right of every E.U. citizen, and that if authorities take away that right people must have the opportunity to defend themselves; citizens also have an automatic right to mount a legal challenge.

However, the text does not demand that authorities in the 27 countries of the E.U. obtain a court order before cutting off someone’s Internet connection, as the European Parliament demanded when it last voted on the issue in early summer.

Canadian officials are taking part in negotiations for a top-secret copyright treaty that could see families barred from the Internet for a year if someone in the household is suspected of illegal downloads.

Under the worldwide rules of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), Internet service providers such as Bell and Rogers in Canada would be required to become copyright police and filter out pirated material from their networks, hand over the identities of customers believed to be infringing copyrights and restrict the use of identity-blocking software.

ACTA would employ a three-strikes policy. People believed to be regularly downloading copy-protected material, such as movie and music files, could have their Internet connection severed for up to 12 months and be forced to pay a fine.

The Internet’s open architecture has enabled this network of networks to become a unparalleled platform for innovation and speech, as well as an enduring engine for economic growth. Last month, I proposed that the FCC adopt a fair and high-level framework to preserve an open Internet.

While my goals are clear, the path to achieving them involves many hard questions about how best to maximize the innovation and investment necessary for a robust and thriving Internet. Getting input from all stakeholders will be important as the Commission begins to address many critical questions.  That is why we launched OpenInternet.gov.

We wanted to create a place where people could join the discussion about the open Internet. While OpenInternet.gov is still in Beta, we are encouraged that thousands of visitors have already used the site to watch my speech proposing open Internet principles and more than 500 people have offered comments.

Today, we are expanding the ways people can use OpenInternet.gov to participate in this discussion by launching the site’s blog. Visitors to this blog will be able to find expert commentary from FCC staff on how best to preserve the Internet’s openness and questions that arise during this debate. Our staff hopes to use this forum not only to share ideas but also to receive them. We encourage all visitors to weigh in with their own thoughts and engage in an open dialogue.

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission convened a meeting in San Antonio to launch a new strategy to improve Internet access in public libraries.

More than 200 public library systems in Texas lack Internet access. The purpose behind the Texas Opportunity Online Broadband Summit is to pinpoint ways public libraries can obtain broadband access.

An effort to make the nation’s public libraries a major source of robust Internet access is gaining momentum as a disparate group of foundations, companies, and trade and government agencies weigh in with plans to build support for bringing fiber optic technology to the country’s 16,500 libraries.

With the Federal Communications Commission voting as early as this month on Chairman Julius Genachowski’s plan to expand and codify the agency’s network neutrality principles, House Republicans seek to delay the vote as long as possible. In the Senate, Republicans may introduce legislation to block any new network neutrality rules.

House Republicans continued their pushback to proposed new network neutrality rules Oct. 5 with 20 House members sending a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski insisting that the FCC prove any market failures before approving any new regulations.

The US government is expected to relax control over how the internet is run when it signs an accord with net regulator Icann on Wednesday.

The “affirmation of commitments” will reportedly give Icann autonomy to run its own affairs for the first time.

Previous agreements gave the US close oversight of Icann – drawing criticism from other countries.

Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) said in an interview Monday that he and Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) are considering legislation aimed at helping advance the adoption of new rules on net neutrality. Such a bill could be a timetable or deadline for the Federal Communications Commission to finish its rule-making process, said Dorgan, the senior member on the Commerce Committee.

The French National Assembly voted Tuesday to adopt, by 258 votes to 131, the so-called “three strikes” law criminalizing file-sharing. Those caught infringing copyright online could face the suspension of their Internet access, a fine or even prison.

The Senate approved the same text on Monday. With the two houses of parliament in agreement, the text now requires only the signature of President Nicolas Sarkozy to become law, although the possibility of another appeal being lodged with the Constitutional Council cannot yet be ruled out.

Senate Republicans moved Monday afternoon to prevent the FCC’s proposed rules on net neutrality with an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill that would tie up funding at the agency for new regulatory mandates. Observers said, however, that the move was unlikely to be approved in the Democrat-majority Congress.