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Friday, April 30, 2010

EC to censor Internet by mandating filtering: 'Cleanternet'?

To illustrate just how good intentions can lead to censorship and encourage others to follow our lead, here's what the naive newbie Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom intends to do - divert resources from removing child porn websites by mandating a pan-European filtering system.
First, it was child porn, then extreme porn, then suicide sites, then terrorist support, then racism, then xenophobia, then gender discrimination, then libel, then they took your children away...this video nicely shows how it works.
It fits with a broader consumer rights agenda for Europe (the 'Stockholm' syndrome?) that is led by Viviane Reding and generally looks pro-freedom and privacy (p11-Reding) and scary censoring (p35/36 Malmstrom):
  • Communication on new legal framework for data protection after entry into force of Lisbon Treaty;
  • New comprehensive legal framework for data protection (but note pp29-30);
  • Communication on 'Privacy and Trust in Digital Europe': ensuring citizens’ confidence in new services;
  • Recommendation to authorise the negotiation of a personal data protection agreement with US;
  • Communication on core elements for data protection in EU-3rd country agreements for law enforcement purposes. I hope the EC uses the study I worked on in 2007 - I was responsible for the India bit!

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