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1title: Chaos Computer Club urges politicians to respect freedom in the internet
2date: 2008-11-27 00:00:00
3updated: 2009-12-13 14:42:11
4author: erdgeist
5tags: update, pressemitteilung, freedom
6
7The Telecom Package is an extensive collection of new rulings devised by the European Parliament with the intention to protect consumers' rights in the telecommunications sector. In addition to many welcome innovations to the benefit of consumers, the package also includes new rulings enabling authorities to persecute users of file-sharing platforms and establish Internet filtering measures. In anticipation of these powers German politicians are planning the establishment of an extensive infrastructure for Internet censorship.
8
9<!-- TEASER_END -->
10
11 
12
13This Thursday, the European Council of Ministers started another round
14of talks on the Telecom Package, which includes numerous new rulings on
15electronic communications (mobile and other phones, radio, TV and
16Internet). The content of communications does not really fall within the
17area of competence of the European rulings, but lobbyists from the music
18and movie industry have successfully influenced the legislative process.
19If the Telecom Package is passed in its current form, the systematic
20surveillance of German telecommunications will become stricter in the
21next two years and file-sharers will be persecuted ever more heavily,
22perhaps to the extent of taking away their Internet access without
23conviction for any offence.
24
25In the name of regulation of the telecommunications market, the Telecom
26Package will curtail basic freedoms and civil rights of all Europeans.
27The right to free and unimpaired access to communications and
28information is to be sacrificed to the profit goals of the content
29mafia. Without access to the Internet, the majority of Germans couldn't
30live a normal life anymore; for example, it is impossible to study at a
31German university without Internet access, since all important
32information and administrative data is transmitted electronically. When
33the e-Government goals of the German federal government are in place,
34being banned from the Internet will equal a de-facto removal of a
35person's civil rights.
36
37Simultaneously, conservative politicians whom appear to be noticeably
38clueless about the Internet, such as Family Minister Ursula von der
39Leyen and Minister for Economic Affairs Michael Glos, are trying to
40install a nationwide infrastructure for Internet censorship. The plan of
41the German conservative party CDU includes obligating service providers
42to install filtering systems. Companies selling Internet routers offer
43service providers such devices to “optimize bandwidth usage”. It is not
44yet widely known that they can easily be used for the censorship of any
45given piece of content on the Internet. If those “censorship devices”
46become widely used, complete censorship of unpopular or oppositional
47content will become easy to implement. Then the only relevant question
48will be who is going to manage the censorship lists – and by what
49standards.
50
51“With this step, Europe and Germany are putting themselves on the same
52level as dictatorships and authoritarian regimes, which also claim to
53aim to protect their citizens of negative influences,” CCC spokesperson
54Dirk Engling said. "Network neutrality, which is crucial for innovation,
55progress, free speech and the advance of society, will be undermined.”
56
57The suppression of websites containing child pornography is merely a
58pretext for the installation of such censorship infrastructure. Social
59problems like child pornography cannot be eliminated by attempting to
60tuning them out. Instead, law enforcement agencies must finally get
61enough personnel and equipment to effectively take action against the
62people producing and distributing child pornography. Again, the
63government is trying to sell unsuitable and inefficient measures as
64solutions, instead of providing enough resources for effective and
65target-oriented action.
66
67The Chaos Computer Club opposes every form of restriction of access to
68unobstructed communications and information. Free exchange of
69information is one of the pillars of western civilisation and must not
70be sacrificed to the profit oriented interests of media companies or
71pretended law enforcement goals. Instead of finally acknowledging
72Internet access as an elementary condition for cultural participation
73and the realisation of the human right to information and communication,
74politicians are still discussing under which circumstances people can be
75excluded from this medium.
76
77“Yet again, the spirit and the letter of the German Constitution are
78being ignored. Whether this is happening because of incompetence or of
79malice is now irrelevant,” CCC spokesperson Dirk Engling concludes.