[P2P-F] Fwd: [opennetcoalition] European Parliament Must Vote (Again) Against Censorship

Mon Sep 9 17:26:16 CEST 2013

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: La Quadrature du Net <jz at laquadrature.net>
Date: Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 9:02 PM
Subject: [opennetcoalition] European Parliament Must Vote (Again) Against
Censorship
To: opennetcoalition at laquadrature.net

Themes: FREE SPEECH, NET FILTERING, CENSORSHIP, GAMBLING, EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT

La Quadrature du Net – For immediate release

Permanent link:
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/european-parliament-must-vote-again-against-censorship

European Parliament Must Vote (Again) Against Censorship

*** Paris, 9 September 2013 – During a plenary vote scheduled for 10
September 2013, the European Parliament will vote on a report of Ashley Fox
[1] (ECR - UK) on “Online gambling in the internal market” [2]. On behalf
of such laudable goals as child protection, fight against money laundering
and addiction to gambling, the report calls for the setting up of dangerous
online censorship. Thus, La Quadrature du Net warns the Members of the
European Parliament and urges citizens to contact their representatives to
ask them to remain opposed to these anti-democratic measures during the
vote of tomorrow (by supporting the split vote on §19 - 1st part). ***

Adopted at the end of May 2013 in “Consumer protection” committee with 32
votes in favor and 3 against, the report of Ashley Fox (ECR - UK) on
“Online gambling in the internal market” “recommends the exchange of best
practices between Member States on enforcement measures – such as on
establishing white and black lists of, and preventing access to, illegal
gambling websites” [3]. The ineffectiveness and dangers of such measures
have been well proven: many studies [4] have highlighted the risk of
content censorship, the high cost, and the ease to circumvent it for
individuals benefiting from these illegal activities.

La Quadrature du Net reminds that the only effective way against these
illegal activities is the removal of content directly at the source, on the
servers, and taking to court the individuals who publish it. In the best
case, the implementation of the censorship measures proposed in this report
would be expensive and inefficient, and in the worst case, they would have
a serious impact on the freedom of communication of citizens.

Nevertheless, the measures proposed by Ashley Fox seem to find support
among some EPP and S&D MEPs. Both of these political groups appear unable
to define a coherent position on this issue, thus, the outcome of the vote
is difficult to predict, and a modest number of voices could change it.
MEPs must reject this attempt to impose censorship online.

“As often with online content, some of our representatives think they can
solve problems by hidding it and by imposing censorship. Unfortunately,
this solution is pure display as it doesn't solve anything but is most
likely to affect the freedom of communication for all citizens. Because it
can only undermine the fundamental values of our democracy, censorship
cannot solve any problem, legitimate or not, and should be banned and
repealed where it already exist.” declared Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder
and spokesperson of the citizen organisation La Quadrature du Net.

* References *

1. https://memopol.lqdn.fr/europe/parliament/deputy/AshleyFox/

2.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&reference=A7-2013-0218&language=EN

3. Item 19 of the report:
"19. Recommends the introduction of uniform, pan-European common security
standards for electronic identification and cross border e-verification
services; welcomes the Commission’s proposal for a directive on
e-identification and authentication, which will allow for interoperability
of national e-identification schemes where these exist; calls, therefore,
for registration and identification procedures to be streamlined and made
more efficient, notably in order to ensure efficient identification
mechanisms and to prevent multiple accounts per player and access by minors
to online gambling websites; recommends the exchange of best practices
between Member States on enforcement measures – such as on establishing
white and black lists of, and preventing access to, illegal gambling
websites, jointly defining secure and traceable payment solutions, and
considering the feasibility of blocking financial transactions – in order
to protect consumers against illegal operators;"

4. https://www.laquadrature.net/en/net-filtering-violates-the-rule-of-law

** About la Quadrature du Net **

La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that defends 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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