[P2P-F] Fwd: [opennetcoalition] No Privacy Without Net Neutrality

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: La Quadrature du Net <jz at laquadrature.net>
Date: Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 9:49 PM
Subject: [opennetcoalition] No Privacy Without Net Neutrality
To: opennetcoalition at laquadrature.net


La Quadrature du Net - For immediate release

Permanent link:
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/no-privacy-without-net-neutrality


No Privacy Without Net Neutrality


*** Brussels, October 12th, 2011 - In a ground-breaking opinion on Net
neutrality, the European Data Protection Supervisor stresses that
restrictions to Internet access inevitably harm privacy. As the European
Parliament enters in the final stage of the negotiations on its resolution
on Net neutrality, this opinion underlines that the EU Commission's "wait
and see" approach is bound to fail and is unjustifiable. Members of the EU
Parliament must preserve citizens' privacy by requiring strong regulatory
measures to ban discrimination of online communications. ***

In this opinion on Net neutrality [1], the European Data Protection
Supervisor (EDPS) makes clear that the protection of Net neutrality is
necessary to ensure the confidentiality of communications.

According to the EU privacy watchdog, traffic management practices that are
not strictly necessary to ensure the network's security or integrity amount
to a global monitoring and inspection of users' communications, thereby
undermining privacy.

To respect current data protection laws, the EDPS stresses that users must
give explicit consent to their Internet communications being monitored and
restricted. It further stresses that users should always have the choice
between a restricted offer and neutral Internet access, without being
imposed higher costs by telecom operators.

These conclusions blow in pieces Commissioner Neelie Kroes' "wait-and-see"
approach based on "transparency" [2] in contracts is enough to protect users
against restrictions of their Internet access.

"The EDPS demonstrates that any discrimination between Internet services,
protocols, sources or contents imposed by telecom operators inevitably hurts
the confidentiality of communications. It is therefore the duty of the
Members of the EU Parliament to protect privacy by departing from
Commissioner Kroes' failed "wait-and-see" approach. The Parliament must
require concrete legislative measures to ensure Net neutrality, therefore
protecting EU citizens privacy, freedom of expression, as well as innovation
and competition online", concludes Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson of the
citizen adovacy group La Quadrature du Net.

** Key quotes from the EDPS opinion **

   Net neutrality violations harm privacy: "Inspection techniques based on
traffic data and inspection of IP payloads, i.e. the content of
communications, may reveal users’ Internet activity: websites visited and
activities on those sites, use of P2P applications, files downloaded, emails
sent and received, from whom, on what subject and in which terms, etc. ISPs
may want to use this information to prioritise some communications, such as
video on demand, over others. They may want to use it to identify viruses,
or to build profiles in order to serve behavioural advertising. These
actions interfere with the right to the confidentiality of communications".
(§78)

   Failure of mere transparency: " Individuals' consent would not be freely
given if they had to consent to the monitoring of their communication data
in order to get access to a communication service. This would be even more
true if all providers in a given market were to engage in traffic management
for purposes that went beyond security of the network. The only option left
would be not to subscribe to an Internet service at all. Given that the
Internet has become an essential tool both for work and for leisure
purposes, not subscribing to an Internet service does not constitute a valid
alternative. The result would be that the individuals would have no real
choice, i.e. they would not be able to freely give consent". (§55)

   Access to neutral Internet is crucial: "The EDPS considers that there is
a clear need for the Commission and national authorities to monitor the
market, particularly to ascertain whether this scenario - i.e. providers
linking telecommunication services to communication monitoring - becomes
mainstream. Providers should offer alternative services, including an
Internet subscription not subject to traffic management, without imposing
higher costs to individuals". (§56)

   Recommended policy steps: "(...). From a data protection and privacy
perspective, the scenario where ISPs engage on a routine basis in traffic
management policies offering subscriptions based on filtering access to
content and applications, would be highly problematic. If this were ever to
happen, legislation would need to be put in place to address this
situation". (§84). Note: Actually, evidence suggests that telecom opertors
already engage in such harmful practices. See the reporting platform
RespectMyNet.eu



* References *

1.
http://www.edps.europa.eu/EDPSWEB/webdav/site/mySite/shared/Documents/Consultation/Opinions/2011/11-10-07_Net_neutrality_EN.pdf

2. The recently revised Telecoms Package states that operators should inform
users about access restrictions. This "transparency" has been taken as a
pretext for inaction by pseudo liberals. According to them, citizens can
"vote with their feet" and choose between different restricted offers. The
EDPS just proved that this approach fails to respect EU privacy law.



** About la Quadrature du Net **


La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that promotes the rights and
freedoms of citizens on the Internet. More specifically, it advocates for
the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding
principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge.

In addition to its advocacy work, the group also aims to foster a better
understanding of legislative processes among citizens. Through specific and
pertinent information and tools, La Quadrature du Net hopes to encourage
citizens' participation in the public debate on rights and freedoms in the
digital age.

La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, European and international NGOs
including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society Institute and
Privacy International.

List of supporting organisations:
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-la-quadrature-du-net


** Press contact and press room **

Jérémie Zimmermann, jz at laquadrature.net, +33 (0)615 940 675

http://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room



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