La Quadrature du Net

Spanish Presidency: Hostile to Net neutrality

Submitted on 11 March 2010
in

The final "Granada Strategy" document by the Spanish Presidency, which lays out Spain's views on the future of European information society policies, has now been circulated.

European Parliament strongly opposes ACTA's democratic deficit

Submitted on 10 March 2010
in

Strasbourg, March 10th, 2010 - The European Parliament massively approved a common resolution1 opposing the current negotiation process regarding the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). This resolution2 is an important call for transparency and the respect of democratic processes. In the coming weeks, the Parliament will have the opportunity to further address the actual content of the negotiated text through the written declaration 12/20103.

  1. 1. resolution RC-B7-0154/2010: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&reference=P7-TA-20...
  2. 2. Check the European Parliament rules of procedure http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+RULES-E... for more information about written declarations (rule 123) and oral questions followed by a statement of the Commission and a motion for resolution (rules 115, 110, and 120)
  3. 3. Participate in getting MEPs to sign the written declaration with the following campaign page: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Help_sign_the_Written_Declaration_12/20...

Start collecting signatures on ACTA declaration!

Submitted on 08 March 2010
in

Strasbourg, March 8th 2010 - The written declaration 12/2010 regarding the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is now open for signatures. It has to be signed within three months by more than half of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). It is a great opportunity for the European Parliament to prove its commitment to protecting fundamental rights and freedoms. Every EU citizen concerned about ACTA and the preservation of an open Internet can participate1 by getting in touch with MEPs2 and urging them to sign the written declaration.

  1. 1. A dedicated campaign page is available here: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Help_sign_the_Written_Declaration_12/20...
  2. 2. The online tool Political Memory can be used for that purpose: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Political_Memory

ACTA: Major leak reveals countries' positions

Submitted on 02 March 2010
in

Another leak of ACTA, the multilateral agreement aimed at imposing the most stringent anti-counterfeiting measures at the global level! This new document originating from the European Commission outlines the positions of negotiating countries on the language of the civil enforcement chapter and the digital chapter.

Help the European Parliament oppose ACTA

Submitted on 24 February 2010
in
URGENT! Help sign the Written Declaration 12/2010 on ACTA.
Dedicated campaign page.

European privacy protection authority condemns ACTA

Submitted on 22 February 2010
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Today, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has issued an opinion critical of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement currently under negotiations. This document is a blow for the negotiators of ACTA, who should now publicly oppose the inclusion of liberty-killer provisions in the agreement.

Gallo Report: Copyright & patent dogmatism at its worst at the European Parliament

Submitted on 29 January 2010
in

Brussels, January 29th, 2010 - The draft1 of the Gallo2 report on strengthening the enforcement of "intellectual property rights" (IPR) in the Internal Market has been presented in the JURI commission of the European Parliament. This initiative report3 is a response to a communication of the Commission on the same topic, which La Quadrature has already strongly condemned4. The document has only one merit: it provides a perfect example of the worst kind of IPR dogmatism.

  1. 1. http://www.laquadrature.net/files/GalloReport-20100128.pdf
  2. 2. Marielle Gallo, rapporteur of this "IPR enforcement" report, is a French EPP Member of the European Parliament.
  3. 3. A non-legislative position of the European Parliament preparing or encouraging legislative initiative
  4. 4. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/dogmatic-ipr-enforcement-fails-to-address...

ACTA Attacks Internet! Let's Attack ACTA!

Submitted on 25 January 2010
in

Paris, Jan 25th 2009 - Negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)1 will take place from January 26th to January 29th in Mexico. ACTA aims at controlling the Internet, while conveniently circumventing democratic processes. Unelected negotiators - carrying out the orders of the entertainment industries - are attacking the very essence of the Internet. Let's attack ACTA! Let's expose its negotiators to make them face their responsibilities!

  1. 1. See our web-dossier about ACTA: http://lqdn.fr/ACTA

ACTA: Through the loopholes of EU law

Submitted on 21 January 2010
in

Next week, negotiating countries will meet for another round of talks on the infamous ACTA, which among other things aims at tackling the unauthorized sharing of cultural works over the Internet. In the past days, members of the European Commission sought to soothe parlementarians, public-interest groups and citizens by saying that the agreement would not go further than existing EU law.

Neelie Kroes, soon-to-be Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, commented the ACTA negotiations during her confirmation hearing on January 14th, saying that there will be no "harmonization by the back door". She also seemed to rule out any further harmonization of Intellectual Property Rights" (IPR) enforcement in Europe, and told reporters after the hearing that the "mere conduit" principle1 - a principle essential to Net neutrality and guaranteed by the e-Commerce directive - will be maintained.

But, as recent developements make clear, ACTA could severely impact Net neutrality and other founding principles of the Internet that ensure the proper exercise of fundamental rights and freedoms on the Internet, even without any change to EU law.

  1. 1. Mere conduit is guaranteed by article 12 of the 2002 e-Commerce directive. This principle sets a special liability regime for network operators by which they have no legal liability for the data transmitted via their networks