Telecoms-Package Analysis Compromise-Amendments ITRE-IMCO 7th-July

La Quadrature du Net has serious concerns regarding several amendments that may be about to be adopted in the European Parliament with respect to the proposed Telecoms Package in Parliament, which is currently undergoing first reading. We believe these amendments seriously threaten the open architecture of the Internet, mere conduit principle and the rights and fundamental freedom of its users.

The amendments are currently being negotiated in two European Parliament committees: Internal Market (IMCO) and Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE). If passed, these harmful amendments will be included in a new draft law on the framework of telecoms and consumer rights in respect to telecom services. The Telecom Framework is what sets the rules for telecom operators and Internet service providers across the EU's single market.

The text of the amendments

Amendment H1, proposed by the British Conservative MEP Malcolm Harbour, gives the European Commission the power to make recommendations about restrictions on "lawful content" access and distribution, or on the execution of "lawful applications or services."

The Commission could, if this amendment is adopted, impose technical standards on content filtering and monitoring computing – so-called "trusted computing." The Commission would be able to make regulation recommendations to any concerned at the request of any national regulation authority (ARCEP, CSA, HADOPI in France, OFCOM in the UK, PTS in Sweden) -- following a quick and undemocratic procedure.

This amendment, written by Malcolm Harbour, is supplemented by several further harmful amendments of fellow English Conservative MEP Syed Kamall, which have already been adopted in the LIBE Committee, and for which Mr. Harbour has announced his support.

Amendment K1 empowers the Commission to authorize "technical measures" to prevent or stop infringements of intellectual property. For this to occur it would be necessary to monitor and filter users' electronic communications with hardware and software, which in practice amounts to spy ware replacing a judge and proper judicial oversight.

Amendment K2 authorises the automatic processing of traffic data without the consent of the user, if this treatment is practiced to ensure "the safety of a public service of electronic communication, a public or private electronic communication, a service of the information society and electronic communicating equipment."

Amendment K2 is a major breach for the protection of personal data and privacy, as it allows businesses to remotely control user's electronic communication without their consent. Coupled with Amendments H1 and K2, it paves the way for the deployment of intrusive technologies on the client or in ISP boxes according to the whim of the Commission, and also the monitoring by the publishers of services and intermediaries (ISP and hosting), all in the name of security and IPR.

In addition, two other amendments, H2 and H3, allow national regulatory authorities to impose access providers to work with rights holders to monitor users specifically when their access is not "safe" (e.g. used to download), and to promote surveillance technologies mentioned above. Such legislation is similarly contained in the French draft law for graduated response.

Supplemented by another amendment from Catherine Trautmann (Amendment T1), this set of amendments creates the unprecedented mechanism known as graduated response in European law; judicial authority and law courts are vacated in favour of private actors and "technical measures" of surveillance and filtering. According to rules set forth by administrative authorities and rights holders, intermediaries will be forced to cooperate in monitoring and filtering their subscribers, or they will be exposed to administrative sanctions.