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EDRi-gram
biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe
Number 10.15, 1 August 2012
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Contents
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1. A new Net Neutrality EC consultation delays possible regulations
2. Czech Republic: Data retention - almost back in business
3. Stravos Lambrinidis: EU First Special Representative for Human Rights
4. ETSI standard for lawful interception triggers privacy questions
5. Belarusian journalist detained for showing subway security flaws
6. Google still holds data unlawfully obtained by StreetView
7. France: Update on website blocking without a judicial decision
8. Reporters Sans FrontiC(res follows on the Wikileaks footsteps
9. Recommended Action
10. Recommended Reading
11. Agenda
12. About
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1. A new Net Neutrality EC consultation delays possible regulations
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Following BERECbs report in May 2012 on Net Neutrality, the European
Commission launched on 23 July 2012 another consultation, open by 15
October 2012, to investigate on whether ISPs are manipulating online
traffic management, thus postponing new regulatory laws on Net
Neutrality. But this consultation follows a similar one from BEREC that
ended just yesterday, 31 July 2012.
As BERECb report was revealing, 20-50% of the European ISPs use measures
to block or restrict access to web sites and/or products run by their
competitors. Although the EU communications rules say that users should
be able to choose the applications and services they want without
restrictions, the report has shown that a large number of European users
are under contracts with their ISPs that limit their access to services
such as Voip (Voice over Internet Protocol) or file-sharing sites. Other
practices such as bandwidth throttling (deliberate slowing down of the
services to certain websites) have been revealed.
Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes stated that the consultation
would be used b to help prepare recommendations that will generate more
real choices and end the net neutrality waiting game in Europe. There
is a lack of effective consumer choice when it comes to Internet
offers," she said. Yet, although Kroes mentioned the introduction of new
EU guidelines in 2012 considering b regulatory intervention in
competitive markets as inappropriateb, the new consultation opened by
the Commission pushes back any possible decision.
La Quadrature du Net has published a non-answer to the new consultation
considering there is no time for another consultation on the subject.
b The only way to protect a free Internet as well as freedoms and
innovation online is to clearly enact and protect Net Neutrality in EU law.b
It is already clear that European ISPs are applying restrictions to
their usersb access and that national regulators cannot investigate and
sanction.
In UK, for instance, several ISPs such as BT, BSkyB, O2 and TalkTalk
have already signed an Open Internet Code of Practice that generally
requires them to ensure that they are offering their customers "full and
open internet access". The code allows them to restrict open use of the
internet through "traffic management" of their services provided they do
not use it "in a manner that targets and degrades the content or
application(s) of specific providers" and they ensure that a best effort
Internet access is a "viable choice" to consumers even where other
"managed services" are available. They signatories must also use "clear
and transparent traffic management policies".
Yet, the code has not been signed by large ISPs such as Virgin Media,
Vodafone or T-Mobile and Orange operator Everything Everywhere who
consider the text of the code may lead to b misinterpretation and
potential exploitation" or have reservations regarding the restrictions
on the use of the b internet accessb term.
On-line public consultation on "specific aspects of transparency, traffic
management and switching in an Open Internet"
Deadline for reply: 15 October 2012
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/actions/oit-consultat...
Public consultation on 'net neutrality' to delay EU rules on ISPs
(24.07.2012)
http://euobserver.com/871/117055
Non-answer to BEREC's Consultation: We need Net Neutrality Law!
(25.07.2012)
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/non-answer-to-berecs-consultation-we-need-ne...
Net Neutrality: Brussels opens an umpteenth public consultation (only in
French, 23.07.2012)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/23245-neutralite-du-net-bruxelles-ouvre-une...
Ten UK ISPs commit to new 'open internet' code (25.07.2012)
http://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2012/july/ten-uk-isps-commit-to-new-open-...
EDRi-gram 10.11: BERECbs findings on net neutrality (6.06.2012)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number10.11/berec-net-neutrality
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2. Czech Republic: Data retention - almost back in business
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Nationwide preventive monitoring of electronic communication finds its
way back into the Czech legal system. The original act was repealed in
2011 by the Constitutional Court b however, a new one is waiting only
for the President's signature. Privacy campaigners fear possible data
abuse given the insufficient regulation provided by the current Police
Act as well as monitoring of contents of Internet communications which
could potentially be made possible by the implementing decree to the new
Act.
Not only the Chamber of Deputies, but now also the Senate approved the
government draft of the amended Electronic Communication Act, as well as
amendments to several other laws reintroducing the obligation of
telephone or Internet services providers to monitor the communications
of their clients and provide them, upon request, to the police,
intelligence services or the Czech National Bank. After the previous
legal regulation was repealed by two decisions of the Constitutional
Court in March and December 2011, nationwide monitoring of citizensb
communications thus finds its way back into the Czech legal system.
The government proposal of the Act that was passed in the Senate on 18
July 2012, reacts to the Constitutional Court decision and implements
the European Directive which prescribes storing of traffic and
localization data on electronic communications.
According to EDRi-member Iuridicum Remedium (IuRe), which initiated the
March decision of the Constitutional Court and also filed its comments
during the preparation phase of the new legal regulation, the new Act is
better than the repealed regulation b however it still contains a number
of errors that will lead to unconstitutional interference with the
privacy of citizens.
The major problem, according to IuRe, is the very existence of the
obligation of operators to generally monitor the communications of all
citizens without any specific suspicion. Thus, a revision of the
European Directive which introduced this obligation, and an assessment
of its constitutionality by the European Court of Justice is seen by
Iure as the key issues in this respect.
"As for the Czech implementation of the Directive, when submitting
comments during the preparatory phase, we tried to push for maximum
limits in terms of monitoring of citizens and possible abuse of such
data," says Jan Voboril, lawyer at IuRe. "The original proposal
introduced by the Ministry of Interior in the summer of last year was
from our perspective entirely unacceptable. During the legislative
process, we have stepwise prepared comments for the Ministry
of Interior, Members of Parliament as well as Senators. We are pleased
that during subsequent discussions with representatives of the Ministry
of Interior and other key institutions, we managed to get acceptance for
stricter rules regarding the use of such data. For example, what we
consider important is the introduction of the obligation to inform the
respective persons that their data have been requested under the
Criminal Code, highlighting the subsidiarity when using such data in
criminal investigation, or the necessity of court permission when the
data is requested by intelligence services or the Czech National Bank,"
adds Voboril.
Many crucial issues still remain unresolved, which will, in IuReB4s
opinion, lead to further unconstitutional use of such data in the
future. "What we consider to be the most serious issue of the new
legislation is that it ignores the current situation where the Police
Act authorizes the police to use the data outside of criminal
proceedings. Under the current Police Act, police officers may require
data more or less without any limits, without court supervision and
without any clearly defined and controlled processes. It is striking
that although the police themselves wanted to define stricter rules for
such use of the data during the preparatory phase of the new Act, this
was refused by the Ministry of Interior. Not even Deputies or Senators
paid attention to this huge gap opening up possibilities for information
abuse by individual police officers b and this despite of repeated
warnings from our side," explains Voboril.
"We also have our concerns regarding the awaited implementing decree of
the Act, which will among other things determine which data will be
generally stored. This decree can put the new Act into entirely new
light, both in respect of the invasion into citizensB4 privacy as
well as technical and personnel details necessary - which will be
reimbursed by the state. Crucial is the particular question of whether
data on the recipientB4s side of Internet communication will be stored as
well. Such provisions would mean not only de facto monitoring of the
content of what we are surfing through on the Internet, but also a
tremendous increase in public expenditures related to such monitoring.
It is surprising that such a significant issue which can change the
entire meaning of the Act and should be provisioned for directly in the
Act, has gone entirely unnoticed by," concludes Voboril.
The Act is currently still to be signed by the President. LetB4s wait and
see whether, during his decision making, Vaclav Klaus will also think of
the fact that, apart from dozens of other persons - not excluding the
chairman of the Constitutional Court - also some people from his
immediate surrounding appeared among the victims of data abuse resulting
from the police authorization to require such data.
(Contribution by EDRi-member Iuridicum remedium - Czech Republic)
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3. Stravos Lambrinidis: EU First Special Representative for Human Rights
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On 25 July 2012, on a proposal by Catherine Ashton, EU High
Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council of
the European Union appointed Mr Stravos Lambridinis, former MEP, as EU
Special Representative for Human Rights.
This appointment is the result of repeated demands from the European
Parliament and a recommendation of the Foreign Affairs Committee. On 24
May 2012, indeed, the Foreign Affairs Committee called on the Council to
appoint a EU's high-level human rights envoy with an international
reputation. The creation of the human rights envoy follows the EU's
Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy that
was adopted on 25 June 2012.
As requested by the European Parliament, Mr. Lambridinis has a
long-standing experience in human rights and international relations. In
his earlier carrier, he was indeed nominated Chairman of the Committee
for Human Rights at the Washington D.C.'s bar association. He also
worked at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and became the
Ambassador at Large of the Hellenic Republic. He was elected Member of
the European Parliament in 2006, where he was Vice-Chairman of the Civil
Liberties Committee. In 2009, he was elected Vice-President of the
European Parliament. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs for Greece
from June to November 2011.
The task of the EU Special Representative for Human Rights is to ensure
the promotion of EU human rights policy worldwide. The mandate will be
broad and flexible in order to give Mr Lambridinis the ability to adapt
to different situations. He will work closely with the European External
Action Service. He will in particular represent the EU at the
international level, be responsible for the interactions with the UN and
chair human rights dialogues with third countries. Mr Lambridinis'
initial mandate will run until 30 June 2014. The goal is to enhance the
effectiveness and consistency of EU policy.
The news was broadly appreciated by the MEPs, and b warmlyb welcomed by
the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz (Germany, S&D),
and by the chairwoman of the EP human rights subcommittee Barbara
Lochbihler (Germany, Groups of the Greens).
This appointment shows the willingness of the European Union to make
human rights one of its strategic priorities and to give the EU a united
voice on human rights issues. Mr Lambridinis said that he would b ensure
the Human Rights gets integrated into all EU external policyb.
Stavros Lambrinidis appointed first EU Special Representative for Human
Rights (25.07.2012)
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/1320...
Stavros Lambrinidis appointed EU Special Representative for Human Rights
(26.07.2012)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/the-president/en/press/press_release_speeches/...
MEPs congratulate new EU human rights envoy, Stavros Lambrinidis
(25.07.2012)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+IM-PRESS+20...
EC press briefing (25.07.2012)
http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/audio/audioDetails.cfm?ref=87254&sitelang=fr
(Contribution by Marie Humeau - EDRi)
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4. ETSI standard for lawful interception triggers privacy questions
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The draft UK Communication Bill raises new privacy concerns after it
has been revealed that the UK has also been driving the development of
a European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standard
framework that allows interception of the content of communication as
well. The Bill will allow the government to compel service companies
like Google and Facebook to provide information to the police and
intelligence services, while the framework sets out the technical
standards for this.
The draft Communication Bill is supposed to deal only with traffic data,
according with the Government position: b The changes we are making only
relate to the who, where and when of communications data. The
interception of the content of any communications is a completely
separate matter and continues to be strictly controlled by the
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, requiring a warrant signed by
the secretary of state" said a Home Office spokesman.
But an April 2012 draft report from ETSI on Lawful Interception (LI)
and Cloud/Virtual Services explains that an electronic communication
provider that offers cloud services must maintain its obligation to
LI. This means that "the cloud service provider must implement a Cloud
Lawful Interception Function (CLIF). This can be by way of Applications
Programming Interface (API) or more likely ensuring presentation of
information in a format recognisable to interception mechanisms."
The Guardian explains it as being measures to monitor "nomadic access",
which means surveillance of an individual whether they go online from
their home computer, mobile or an Internet cafC).
"They are saying this is only about communications data, but in fact it
is not. If you build the infrastructure that ETSI have agreed, it can be
used for interception. The documents show that there is a clear and
continuing intention to use it for interceptionb, explains Prof. Ross
Anderson, from the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory,
"We're seeing moves at an international level to make it easier for the
content of communications to be intercepted. For Home Office officials
behind the communications data bill, spying on who we are emailing or
Skyping is not their final objective. Officials from Britain are working
internationally to force service providers to ensure that their systems
are easy to tap into," concluded Nick Pickles, from Big Brother Watch.
Security services to get more access to monitor emails and social media
(28.07.2012)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jul/28/isecurity-services-emails-s...
Draft ETSI DTR 101 567 V0.0.5 (2012-04) - Lawful Interception (LI);
Cloud/Virtual Services (CLI)
http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/tsg_sa/WG3_Security/TSGS3_LI/2012_45_Bratislava/SA3L...
EDRi-gram 10.10: Concerns over the proposed Communication Bill in UK
(23.05.2012)
http://edri.org/edrigram/number10.10/draft-communications-bill-uk
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5. Belarusian journalist detained for showing subway security flaws
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Several Belarusian journalists have been lately arrested for having
shown flows in the security system of Belarus. The latest arrest, on 25
July 2012, was that of Vital Ruhayn on charges of hooliganism and
obscene language in public. In fact, he became infamous for publishing a
video online showing a lack of security on the Minsk subway although it
was the target of a deadly bombing in April 2011.
The video was clearly showing the journalist carrying a large bag into
the Minsk metro and following the same route as the 2011 bomber - the
police did not react in any way. Although the court released Ruhayn, he
is still under prosecution and the hearing was only postponed for five
days in order to allow the police to correct the inconsistencies in
their testimonies and written reports.
b Vital Ruhaynbs arrest is indicative of the regimebs sensitivities about
matters related b closely or otherwise b to the Minsk bombing and
national security. A journalist should not be arrested for highlighting
police violations of security regulations. We call for the withdrawal of
the trumped-up charges brought against him,b was the reaction of
Reporters Without Borders.
Also, in June, ERB reporter Pavel Svyardlow was arrested on similar
obscene language charges, and was given a 15-day jail sentence
and on 13 July journalist Anton Surapin was arrested for having posting
on the Internet photos of the action of a Swedish advertising agency of
4 July - the agency people flew a light aircraft into the Belarusian
airspace dropping hundreds of teddy-bears with messages supporting free
speech in Belarus. Surapin is still held by the Committee for State
Security on the charge of helping foreigners to cross the border
illegally and is facing a three to seven years prison sentence.
Journalist facing jail sentence for exposing Minsk metro security flaws
(27.07.2012)
http://en.rsf.org/belarus-journalist-facing-jail-sentence-28-07-2012,43120.h...
Ruhain's case to be revised due to witnesses' confusion (26.07.2012)
http://euroradio.fm/en/report/ruhains-case-be-revised-due-witnesses-confusio...
Euroradio journalist Vital Ruhain is released (26.07.2012)
http://euroradio.fm/en/report/euroradio-journalist-vital-ruhain-spend-night-...
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6. Google still holds data unlawfully obtained by StreetView
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Google admitted, in a letter addressed on 27 July 2012 to UK Information
Commissioner's Office (ICO) as well as to the Irish Data Protection
Commission office that it had not yet deleted all the data unlawfully
obtained in UK by its Street View cars.
After the discovery in May 2010 that Google had scanned, by means of its
Street View cars, the airwaves to identify and map WiFi thus
unlawfully obtaining private data, the company was instructed to delete
all data thus gathered. According to the present Googlebs letter, a
b small portionb of the respective data is still in the companybs
possession. Google also asked in its letter for instruction on how to
proceed in deleting the rest of the data.
"In recent months, Google has been reviewing its handling of Street View
disks and undertaking a comprehensive manual review of our Street View
disk inventory. That review involves the physical inspection and
re-scanning of thousands of disks. In conducting that review, we have
determined that we continue to have payload data from the UK and other
countries. We are in the process of notifying the relevant authorities
in those countries," said Google's privacy counsel Peter Fleischer.
ICO answered the letter on 28 July saying Google should promptly supply
the remaining data to the ICO which would "examine the contents" warning
at the same time the company that it might be in breach of the terms
previously agreed following the investigation into the issue in 2010.
Billy Hawkes, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, said Google was
supposed to have deleted all the data and considered the situation
"clearly unacceptable".
ICO stated that it would coordinate its further actions in the matter
with other data protection authorities through the Article 29 Working
Party and the GPEN network.
Google admits not all unlawfully-collected Street View data has been
deleted (27.07.2012)
http://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2012/july/google-admits-not-all-unlawfull...
Google warned on data deletion delay (28.07.2012)
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/google-warned-on-data-deletion-delay...
EDRi-gram 10.12: Googlebs Street View privacy breach again in the public
eye (20.06.2012)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number10.12/google-steet-view-identification-ag...
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7. France: Update on website blocking without a judicial decision
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Fleur Pellerin, the French State Secretary for Digital Economy announced
on 24 July 2012 the intention of the French Government to give up the
Decree on the application of a very controversial Article of LOPPSI 2
law which allowed online filtering of websites with child pornographic
content without a court decision.
Article 4 was stipulating that when b the necessities of the fight
against broadcasting of images representing minors as per article 227-23
of the Criminal Code justify it, the administrative authority notifies
(the ISPs) the electronic addresses of public electronic online
communication services which contravene the provisions of this article
that these must block or delay access to them.b
One of the main concerns regarding this article is that the blocking
could be done without the intervention of a court order.
The draft decree for the entering into force of Article 4 from LOPPSI 2
(6 months after its publication) was to be published on 15 March 2012,
after a consultation with CNN (Conseil National Numerique b National
Digital Council) which never happened.
However, the text of article 4 is still in the text of the law, so in
order to solve the problem, it is necessary to change the law itself.
Loppsi: the decree on site blocking without judge is abandoned (only in
French, 25.07.2012)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/23260-loppsi-le-decret-sur-le-blocage-des-s...
Loppsi: the government abandons blocking without judge (only in
French, 25.07.2012)
http://www.pcinpact.com/news/72658-loppsi-gouvernement-abandonne-blocage-sit...
EDRi-gram 9.4: France: Loppsi 2 adopted - Internet filtering without court
order (23.02.2011)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number9.4/web-blocking-adopted-france-loppsi-2
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8. Reporters Sans FrontiC(res follows on the Wikileaks footsteps
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Reporters Sans FrontiC(res (RSF) is looking to take the Wikileaks path
and will start accepting the publication of censured documents in
October 2012 on a new dedicated platform.
Called b We Fight Censorshipb, the RSF platform will distribute censored
documents received from journalists, bloggers or political dissidents in
order to offer a b digital shelterb for those who, by revealing such
documents, might be persecuted, condemned, imprisoned or even
assassinated.
b Thanks to a digital ultra-secured safe, the Internet
users will be able to provide the organisation, anonymously, with
documents affected by censorship or interdicted for publicationb stated
RSF who also added that the documents will not be published as such but
put into context and the contents included will be verified to ensure
the accuracy and correctness of the shared information.
RSF already organised in 2010 an b anti-censure shelterb space for the
protection of political dissidents, journalists and bloggers threatened
by authorities, which allows them to surf and communicate rather safely
by using various ciphering and anonymization tools.
On 21 July 2012, the association organised a hackathon in order to test
the reliability of the platform and the security of the document
transmission system.
RSF wants to fight censorship by publishing banned documents (only in
French, 25.07.2012)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/23261-rsf-veut-combattre-la-censure-en-publ...
We fight censorship
http://wefightcensorship.org/en.html
Hackathon "We fight censorship" on 21 July (20.07.2012)
http://fr.rsf.org/france-hackathon-we-fight-censorship-05-07-2012,42964.html
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9. Recommended Action
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Call for Papers for a special edition of IEEE Internet Computing on
Internet Censorship and Control. The editors are looking for short (up
to 5,000 words) articles on the technical, social, and political
mechanisms and impacts of Internet censorship and control.They are
soliciting both technical and social science articles, and especially
encourage those that combine the two.
Deadline for a brief description of the article: 15 August 2012
http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/iccfp3
Commission consults on a future EU Network and Information Security
legislative initiative (27.07.2012)
Deadline: 15 October 2012
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/12/818&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
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10. Recommended Reading
=======================================================================
Online traceability: Who did that? (27.07.2012)
http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2012/07/27/online-traceability/
http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/files/2012/07/Online-traceability-Who-did-th...
Big data at your service
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/dae/itemdetail.cfm?item_...
Linked Open Government Data
http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/MIS.2012.56
European Telco Proposal to ITU: A Threat to the Open Web? (27.07.2012)
http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2012/07/27/european-telco-proposal-to...
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11. Agenda
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25-26 August 2012, Bonn, Germany
Free and Open Source software conference (FrOSCon)
http://www.froscon.de/en/program/call-for-papers/
6-7 September 2012, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
CONSENT policy conference:
Perceptions, Privacy and Permissions: the role of consent in on-line
services
http://conference.ubbcluj.ro/consent/
8-9 September 2012, Vienna, Austria
Daten, Netz & Politik 2012
https://dnp12.unwatched.org/
12-14 September 2012, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Building Institutions for Sustainable Scientific, Cultural and Genetic
Resources Commons.
http://biogov.uclouvain.be/iasc/index.php
14-17 September 2012, Brussels, Belgium
Freedom not Fear 2012
http://www.freedomnotfear.org/
http://www.freedom-not-fear.eu
7-10 October 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2012 Amsterdam Privacy Conference
http://www.apc2012.org/
25-28 October 2012, Barcelona, Spain
Free Culture Forum 2012
http://fcforum.net/
6-9 November 2012, Baku, Azerbaijan
Seventh Annual IGF Meeting: "Internet Governance for Sustainable Human,
Economic and Social Development"
http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/
9-11 November 2012, Fulda, Germany
Digitalisierte Gesellschaft - Wege und Irrwege
FIfF Annual Conference in cooperation with Fuldaer Informatik Kollquium
http://www.fiff.de/2012
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12. About
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EDRi-gram is a biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe.
Currently EDRi has 32 members based or with offices in 20 different
countries in Europe. European Digital Rights takes an active interest in
developments in the EU accession countries and wants to share knowledge
and awareness through the EDRi-grams.
All contributions, suggestions for content, corrections or agenda-tips
are most welcome. Errors are corrected as soon as possible and are
visible on the EDRi website.
Except where otherwise noted, this newsletter is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. See the full text at
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Newsletter editor: Bogdan Manolea