Who are we ?

La Quadrature du Net (Squaring the Net) is citizen group informing about legislative projects menacing civil liberties as well as economic and social development in the digital age.

La Quadrature du Net informs citizens, public authorities, organizations, corporations.

It works with everyone to elaborate balanced alternative solutions.

La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, european and international NGOs including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society Institute and Privacy International.

Why this name "Squaring the net" ?

We believe that the promoters of the projects we are opposing are trying to solve a problem similar to squaring the circle. They did not understand that we changed era, that some approaches are outdated, that we must collectively rethink our approach to the control of information.

We believe that it is impossible to effectively control the flow of information in the digital age by the law and the technology without harming public freedoms, and damaging economic and social development. This is what we call squaring the net.

We agree with the idea expressed by Jacques Attali related to the draft of the Olivennes law, when he presented the Committee's report about economic growth to the parliament: "we cannot develop economical growth by installing surveillance and tracing."

For the record, according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, squaring the circle is a classic problem of mathematics appearing in geometry. It is one of three major problems of the ancient world, with the trisection of the angle and the duplication of the cube.

In the oldest mathematical text found, Rhind papyrus (~ 1650 BC.), The scribe Queen Ahmose already proposed approximate solution of the problem. However, we had to wait until 1882 for the German mathematician Ferdinand von Lindemann to show the transcendence of π, proving the impossibility of solving the problem of squaring the circle: it is impossible to construct, using only a ruler and compass, a square whose surface is exactly equal to the surface of a disk.

The question now is how many centuries it will be necessary for the law makers to return to reason? Are we in the field of law and ICT closer to BC -1650 or 1882?

What are the projects you worry about?

• The Olivennes bill aimed at building flexible response
• The proposed extension of the powers of the CSA (french media regulation authority) to Internet
• The proposed national commission to mark "trusted" online services
• The draft law on cybercrime
• The draft decree extending the retention of logs

When will projects that you worry about be adopted?

Consideration of the bill establishing the Olivennes graduated response is scheduled for April / May. It might be considered in an emergency procedure meaning that the parliamentary debate would be reduced to a single reading per chamber. This type of procedure prevents Parliament to work calmly on a subject as complex as the adaption of copyright in the digital era.

The proposed extension of the powers of the CSA Internet and marking of "trusted" sites also must be adopted before the end of the parliamentary session (end of June), respectively during consideration of the draft law on media and Bill on Cybercrime. The marking could be created by decree as has been suggested several times.

One of the stated objectives of this forced march by the Government is that certain measures, including the project Olivennes, to be replicated at European level during the French Presidency, which begins on 1 July.

We are concerned that the emergency measures taken after September 11, 2001 may still be extended at the same time via the draft decree on the retention of connection data which leaked in February.

We also fear that the draft law on cybercrime announced by the Minister of the Interior contains several provisions harming civil liberties.

How can we participate?

See How to help.