Control on Internet users pushed with the new telecom package
(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)
An appeal from three European NGOs – La Quadrature du Net, netzpolitik.org
and EDRi-member Open Rights Group – reveal some disturbing MEPs amendments
to the draft directives to reform the EU framework on electronic
communications (telecom package).
The review of the telecom package was merely focusing on telecom-related
issues (except for discussions on the ePrivacy directive, which is the
subject of another EDRi-gram article in the current issue), but some of
the 800 amendments on the 5 directives that form the current package might
go further than just establishing the rules for a functioning electronic
communications market and could endanger the principle of the neutrality of
the Internet.
Some amendments will transform the ISPs from technical intermediaries that
have no obligation to prior surveillance of contents into law enforcers.
Therefore they might be asked to block their users from lawful activities in
the interests of their security or to work with content producers and
rights-holders’ organizations, including sending intimidating messages, with
no judicial approval. The amendment meant to support Intellectual Property
Rights owners could open the door to censorship and might mean in practice
the loss on privacy on the Internet.
“The politicians who engage in these summer manoeuvres dishonour Europe and
their mandate. They rely on the fact that nobody watches them few days
before Parliamentary holiday, to divert the Telecom package from its primary
objectives of consumer protection. They pave the way for the monitoring and
filtering of the Internet by private companies, exceptional courts and
Orwellian technical measures. It is inconceivable for freedom but also for
European economic development. We call on all MEPs to oppose what they have
already rejected.” said Christophe Espern, co-founder of La Quadrature du
Net (Squaring the Net).
The appeal of the three organisations comes just before the 7 July vote in
the ITRE and IMCO Committees of the European Parliament on the suggested
amendments to the telecom package. The plenary discussion and vote for the
whole package will take place in September, but the vote in the two
committees could have a significant impact on the final result.
Mobilization Package Telecom ( in English, German and French)
http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Mobilisation_Paquet-Telecom
Telecom Package warning document for IMCO/ITRE vote (30.06.2008)
http://www.laquadrature.net/files/note-IMCO-ITRE-quadrature-20080630.pdf
The commented amendments in HTML format
http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Telecom-Package_Compromise-Amendments_ITRE-IMCO_7th-July
Participate: Europe-wide action against the telecom package (only in German,
1.07.2008)
Write to your MEP: say no to “3 strikes” through the backdoor (2.07.2008)
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/07/02/write-to-your-mep-say-no-to-3-strikes-through-the-backdoor/