Tag: digitale borgerrettigheder

EU-parlamentet vedtager anbefaling om at lukke for fildeleres Internet

En kniv i ryggen på borgernes rettigheder, skriver La Quadrature du Net i en pressemeddelelse:

This very repressive text is one more step in the entertainment industries’ crusade against their own public. The Members of the Parliament have failed to recognize that the measures called for in this non-legislative text profoundly undermine fundamental freedoms1. For the next steps, citizens must remain on their guard and should continue to inform their elected representatives about the lies of the industry, and the importance of the Internet for the future of our societies.

Private copyright police

In the end, the lobbying from the entertainment industries proved extremely powerful, as demonstrated by the nefarious influence of a few members of the ALDE group who helped rejecting alternative approaches and thereby paved the way for a call to ruthless enforcement2. Baseless studies3 and letters signed by dead or unknown movie producers, fake signatures4, or 7 years old singers5 were used among other deceptive techniques to get this vote, against the general interest of EU citizens.

“The Gallo report is an illustration of the will of the entertainment industry to try to impose private copyright police and justice of the Net6. Repressive schemes such as the “three strikes” policies and other Internet access restrictions –typified by the French HADOPI or the UK Digital Economy laws– negate fundamental rights, such as the right to a fair trial, the freedom of communication or the right to privacy. So far, they have also turned out to be a political and technical failure. Even if they are encouraged by the European Commission and the draft ACTA agreement, such measures giving investigation, evidence collection and sanction powers to private actors are not tolerable in democracies abiding by the rule of Law.” analyses Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson of the citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

“EU citizens must remain watchful and continue their essential work of informing their elected representatives about the crucial role that a free Internet plays for the future of our societies and an expanded creative economy. Only through civic engagement and democracy can the lies of the entertainment industries be rejected as such. Soon, elected representatives across Europe will realize that the crusade of these industries against their own public undermines the founding values of our democracies, and that it should be stopped by all means.” concludes Zimmermann.

Ole Wolf opsummerer konsekvenserne på dansk:

Når man tænker på, hvordan visse pladeselskabers lobbyisme har gjort grænsen mellem mistanke til dom temmelig tynd, skal der ikke meget til. Eller antag alternativt, at jeg ikke kan kontrollere, om mine børn deler filer, og således bliver dømt på grund af dem, fordi et passende indrettet juridisk system ikke finder det relevant at bære bevisbyrden.

Tredje gang risikerer jeg at miste internetforbindelsen. Det har EU-Parlamentet netop vedtaget mulighed for, selvfølgelig takket være de Konservative.

Det vil betyde:

  • At jeg ikke vil kunne være en del af “det digitale Danmark”, hvilket i praksis betyder fratagelse af en del borgerrettigheder.
  • At jeg ikke ville være i stand til at arbejde hjemmefra.
  • At også min familie, hvor min kone og vores to børn ikke har hver deres internetforbindelse, bliver afskåret fra kommunikation med det offentlige og således frataget borgerrettigheder.
  • At min kone ikke ville være i stand til at arbejde hjemmefra.
  • At mine børn ikke ville kunne logge på Elevintra og se, hvad de havde for af lektier.
  • At mine børn ville være afskåret fra de samme sociale netværk, som deres venner deltager i.

Der er indtil videre intet af dette, der er omsat til dansk lov, men det er umiddelbart helt usædvanligt dårlige perspektiver.

Foredrag om ACTA, det nye ophavsmareridt

Dette er et tyve minutters foredrag om ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, den nye traktat om ophavsret, der forhandles på plads i dybeste hemmelighed i disse dage. Vi snakker nye drakoniske muligheder og straffe. Hvis lobbyisterne ender med at få magt som de har agt i denne sag, kan threee strikes-love og fængselsstraffe for download af musik til eget forbrug hurtigt blive dagens orden.

Link: The ACTA Threat: My Talk on Everything You Need To Know About ACTA, But Didn’t Know To Ask (via Boing Boing).

Læs også: ACTA: Worldwide Net restrictions without public debate

Digitale borgerrettigheder – er slaget tabt?

For nogle måneder siden skrev jeg om kampen for at fastholde nogle ændringsforslag til EUs store telekom-pakke, der skulle sikre borgernes rettigheder iden digitale fremtid.

Det handlede især om ændringsforslag 138, der ville garantere, at ingen borger kan afskæres fra internettet og ingen hjemmeside vilkårligt lukkes ned, uden at det er besluttet af en domstol. Forslaget ville have sikret, at folk ikke kunne fratages deres dag for dag mere og mere uundværlige Internetforbindelse eller få bortcensureret deres hjemmesider rent administrativt.

Forslag 138 ville med andre ord have umuliggjort three strikes-love og sikret ytringsfriheden på Internettet.

Efter en lang kamp blev forslaget vedtaget. Alt syntes godt, og borgerretsbevægelser og blogs som denne meldte om sejr. Men nu er det hele tabt på gulvet igen! Parlamentet har omgjort sin beslutning og erstattet ændringsforslag 138 med en svagt formuleret tekst, der reelt tillader alle de begrænsninger og al den censur, man har lyst til.

Se blot denne pressemeddelelse fra La Quadrature du Net:

Yesterday, representatives of the European Parliament, an institution that ordinarily prides itself for protecting human rights at home and abroad, decided to surrender to the pressure exerted by Member States. The Parliament gave up on amendment 138, a provision adopted on two occasions by an 88% majority of the plenary assembly, and which aims at protecting citizens’ freedom in the online world. Instead of ensuring that no restriction to Internet access would be imposed without the prior ruling of a judge, amendment 138 will instead be replaced by a weak provision1, that does not carry any new important safeguard for citizen’s freedoms.

With this retreat, the European Parliament, who regularly boasts itself about its credentials in the field of human rights, has endorsed the false idea that it had no power in protecting their constituents’ rights under current rules. This decision was taken consciously by rapporteur Catherine Trautmann, in order not to risk a confrontation with the Council of EU and to quickly finish with the Telecoms Package. She, along with the rest of the Parliament delegation deliberately ignored existing texts and case law pointing to the fact that it had the competence to adopt the core principles of amendment 1382. They didn’t even try to reword the original amendment in order to preserve its initial objective.

“Amendment 138 was in haste dissolved into useless legalese and soft consensus. The Parliament hurried to get rid of the safeguards of citizens’ freedoms because it knew that with the imminent coming into effect of the Lisbon treaty, both institutions will soon share the legislative power in the field of judicial affairs. And the bad excuses we have heard these past few days to justify to abandon amendment 138 will then be totally obsolete. In the end, the Parliament was not brave enough to stand against the Council to defend citizens’ freedoms.”, explains Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net.

“Ministers of Member States, who want to be able to regulate the Net without interference from the judiciary, were rushing to kill amendment 138 and put an end to the negotiations. It is a shame that the Parliament’s delegation, and especially rapporteur Catherine Trautmann, was not determined enough to use the political context to assert its authority in the European lawmaking process in order to protect European citizens. Even though it has been an interesting and constructive discussion, amendment 138 has turned, by the lack of courage of the delegation, into the emblem of the powerlessness of the Parliament.”, concludes Zimmermann.

Så hvor der før var lagt op til en betydelig sikring af den enkeltes rettigheder, risikerer vi nu at få  et virtuelt tag-selv-bord for overvågnings-syge plade- og filmselskaber og kontrolglade myndigheder. Nyd ytringsfriheden på Internettet, så længe du har den.

Link: Amendment 138 dead by lack of courage of the Parliament

Frankrig: ‘Three strikes’ er død

Det franske forfatningsråd har omstødt ideen om, at det skulle være muligt at afskære brugere fra internettet efter tre beskyldninger for pirateri, og har indskærpet, at så vidtgående et skridt som at formene folk adgang til Internettet kun kan ske ved kendelse af en domstol:

The Constitutionnal Council, highest jurisdiction in France gave its decision1 concerning the HADOPI “three strikes” law [ed: France’s insane plan to force ISPs to cut Internet service to people who have unsubstantiated accusations of copyright infringment], final stage before the promulgation of the law. It decided that presumption of innocence is more important than the idiotic schemes from the entertainment industries to artificially prolong their obsolete models.

All sanctioning power (ie. disconnecting internet users) has been removed from the HADOPI.

” This is a great victory for citizens who proved they can altogether act to protect their Freedom. HADOPI’s “three strikes” is finally buried. All we have now is a big tax-sponsored spam machine for the entertainment industries. But this is not the end of Sarkozy’s will to control the Internet. The next law, LOPPSI, is already on tracks and will be about filtering the content on the Internet. Citizens must celebrate this great victory but remain watchful…” declares Jeremie Zimmermann, cheerfully.

Bemærk, at forfatningsrådet i sin afgørelse bl.a. lægger vægt på, at

… selon les requérants, en conférant à une autorité administrative, même indépendante, des pouvoirs de sanction consistant à suspendre l’accès à internet, le législateur aurait, d’une part, méconnu le caractère fondamental du droit à la liberté d’expression et de communication et, d’autre part, institué des sanctions manifestement disproportionnées

… det vil sige, at idet man giver en administrativ myndighed beføjelse til at suspendere adgang til internettet, ignorerer man den grundlæggende karakter af retten til ytrings- og kommunikationsfrihed, samtidig med, at sanktionen – afkobling fra Internettet – er ude af proportioner med “overtrædelsen”.

Dette er interessant nok de samme argumenter, som lå bag de digitale borgerrettigheder, som EU-parlamentet i sidste øjeblik og takket være massivt pres fra borgerretsgrupper fik skrevet ind i den kommende telekompakke.

Nu mangler vi bare at få gjort noget ved censur (“børnepornofilter”) og overvågning (logningsbekendtgørelsen). Men et lille skridt i den rigtige retning er det da.

Link: Hadopi is dead: “three strikes” buried by highest court.

(via Boing Boing)