News

European Parliament Must Vote (Again) Against Censorship

Submitted on 9 Sep 2013 - 14:38

UPDATE: The text adopted on 10 September 2013 by the European Parliament "recommends the exchange of best practices between Member States on enforcement measures – such as on establishing white and black lists of illegal gambling websites", but no longer mentions censorship measure. Although the choice of MEPs could be seen as inconsistent, it is still a victory for citizens and for freedom of expression.

Paris, 9 September 2013 – During a plenary vote scheduled for 10 September 2013, the European Parliament will vote on a report of Ashley Fox (ECR - UK) on “Online gambling in the internal market”. On behalf of such laudable goals as child protection, fight against money laundering and addiction to gambling, the report calls for the setting up of dangerous online censorship. Thus, La Quadrature du Net warns the Members of the European Parliament and urges citizens to contact their representatives to ask them to remain opposed to these anti-democratic measures during the vote of tomorrow (by supporting the split vote on §19 - 1st part).

Neelie Kroes Pushing Telcos' Agenda to End Net Neutrality

Submitted on 30 Aug 2013 - 14:45

Paris, 30 August 2013 — For the past 3 years, a consortium led by Alcatel-Lucent has been working on technical, business and legal aspects of a plan that would effectively put an end to the free and open Internet we enjoy today. Under the guise of protecting Net neutrality, EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes is about to give these big telecom companies a EU-wide legal shield to achieve their power-grab on the Internet economy, as confirmed by a new leaked EU Commission document. Such a shocking instance of corporate policy capture would have disastrous effects for freedom and innovation online.

Join La Quadrature du OHM!

Submitted on 31 Jul 2013 - 02:09

Heerhugowaard, July 31st 2013 — La Quadrature du Net welcomes all hackers and activists to join its village1 at Observe, Hack, Make (OHM2013), the previsibly awesome Dutch hacker camp that will take place from the 31st of July to the 4th of August!

[Video] La Quadrature du Net is 5 years old!

Submitted on 29 Jul 2013 - 09:16

5 years of defending freedoms on the Internet!

 

Why the EU Commission's True Intent is to Kill Net Neutrality

Submitted on 19 Jul 2013 - 11:25

Paris, 19 July 2013 — Since last week, after citizen groups started criticizing the EU Commission over its leaked draft regulation threatening to kill Net neutrality, Commissioner Neelie Kroes and her staff have tried to defend their proposal on Twitter, arguing that these criticisms were “misleading European citizens”. Here is a summary of what was said, not said, and how it reveals that these criticisms are absolutely right.

Net Neutrality: Will Kroes Fool Citizens (And Give In to Telcos)?

Submitted on 12 Jul 2013 - 15:04

Paris, 12 July 2013 — A leaked draft legislative text shows that the European Commission might be about to kill the open and free Internet. Under the guise of protecting Net neutrality, the Commission wants to give telecom operators a free hand to develop business models that would irremediably undermine freedom of communication on the Internet. For years now, commissioner Neelie Kroes has been bafflingly sympathetic to big telecom companies on the fundamental issue of Net neutrality, but with this draft text she would be going much too far in betraying citizens.

Trans-Atlantic Trade Talks Bound to Harm Freedoms Online

Submitted on 8 Jul 2013 - 12:53

Paris, 8 July 2013 — Today begins in Washington DC the first round of negotiations of the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, TAFTA (also known as TTIP1), amid concerns about the legitimacy of negotiating such a text under espionage by the US government. La Quadrature du Net publishes a leaked document [pdf] [text] showing that the EU is already preparing to attack citizens' freedoms online, turning TAFTA into a “super-ACTA”. La Quadrature calls on citizens to mobilize and calls negotiators to communicate TAFTA texts to the public as soon as they enter in their possession.

  • 1. TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) is an attempt to rename TAFTA in a positive-sounding manner, "partnership", while avoiding to be too pronounceable or to sound too similar in pronunciation as "ACTA"

Rassemblement en défense d'Edward Snowden dimanche 7 juillet à 14h

Submitted on 6 Jul 2013 - 16:27

Paris, 6 juillet 2013 — La Quadrature du Net appelle les citoyens de la région parisienne à participer au rassemblement en solidarité avec Edward Snowden le dimanche 7 juillet à 14h sur le Parvis des droits de l'Homme, place du Trocadéro à Paris.

TAFTA: Illegitimate EU-US Agreement Will Begin Under Total US Surveillance

Submitted on 4 Jul 2013 - 10:43

Paris, 4 July 2013 — Today, exactly one year after the final rejection of ACTA, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in strong reaction to the massive spying by the USA. Our representatives have failed to demand that the upcoming secret negotiations of trans-atlantic trade agreement be frozen. In a context where EU officials are being spied upon by US counterparts, this upcoming “super-ACTA” will be born with very little legitimacy.

Protect Our Freedoms with “Pi-xels”: Support La Quadrature du Net!

Submitted on 27 Jun 2013 - 16:19

Paris 20 June 2013 — La Quadrature du Net launches a new call for support. After six months of structuring, La Quadrature du Net is now active on a wide number of subjects crucial for the future of online freedoms: Net neutrality, copyright reform, protection of privacy, opposing surveillance and censorship or discriminatory treatment of our communications. So many issues and actions that can be only move forward thanks to your support!

TAFTA: First Step Towards a Super-ACTA

Submitted on 23 May 2013 - 11:46

Paris, 23 May 2013 — In a plenary vote, the European Parliament just adopted a mandate to the European Commission explicitly allowing it to “include strong protection of intellectual property rights (IPR)” in the proposed EU-US trade agreement negociations, the “Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement” (TAFTA), also know as “Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership” (TTIP).

Privacy Alert #1: Explicit Consent, the Cornerstone

Submitted on 22 May 2013 - 14:16

This analysis is a part of a series.

Paris, 22 May 2013 — When you are browsing the web, can you say who collects information about you, what is the nature of that information and who may access it? Can you control who may know what about you? The European Commission intended to give you the power to do so, but European Parliament may vote otherwise, under pressure by corporate lobbies.

European Parliament to Vote Green Light to Next ACTA?

Submitted on 17 May 2013 - 13:59

Paris, 17 May 2013 — On 22 May, the European Parliament will vote in plenary on a resolution on the proposed EU-US trade agreement, the “Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement” (TAFTA), also know as “Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership” (TTIP). After the ACTA, SOPA and PIPA battles, once again the entertainment industry will try to use a trade agreement as an opportunity to impose online repression. With Wednesday's vote, Members of the European Parliament may be about to vote in favor of the same kind of repressive copyright enforcement provisions that they rejected in ACTA a few months ago.

Copyright in France: Wishful Thinking and Real Dangers

Submitted on 14 May 2013 - 10:02

Paris, 13 May 2013 — Pierre Lescure has handed in his report [fr] on culture at the digital era to French President François Hollande1. La Quadrature du Net denounces a flawed political process revealing the harmful influence of industrial groups at all levels of policy-making. How will the French government react to Lescure's proposal to expand the scope of competence of the audiovisual media regulator (CSA) to the Internet? Will it to pursue former President Sarkozy's anti-sharing policies and even supplement them with new ACTA-like measures encouraging online intermediaries to become private copyright police?

  • 1. Pierre Lescure lead a committee advising the French government on the future of copyright law Hadopi, the French "three strikes" administration.

Culture and the Internet: the report

Submitted on 10 May 2013 - 16:09

Paris, 10 May 2013 — The publication of the report on culture and the Internet requested by French president Hollande to Pierre Lescure – former CEO of Canal +, a major TV station owned by Vivendi-Universal – will be the object of a major media buzz in France. For those interested in what would be ambitious public policies adapted to the digital era, La Quadrature du Net brings back on the table its Elements for the reform of copyright and related cultural policies. Will those 14 propositions, attentive to the freedoms and uses of everyone, to the interests of authors and other contributors, be a part of it, or will the Lescure report perpetuate the repressive policies led by Nicolas Sarkozy?

Privacy Alert: #0 Introduction

Submitted on 7 May 2013 - 09:56

Paris, 7 May 2013 — For more than a year, the EU Parliament have been examining the Proposal for a Regulation of the EU Commission aimed at reforming the European data protection legal framework. Until now, the parliamentary committees examining the Proposal have so far proposed to restrict the protections of our fundamental right to privacy. As a crucial vote is approaching1 in the “Civil Liberties” (LIBE) Committee, La Quadrature du Net launches a series of analysis dealing with key points, stakes, development and threats of the reform.

  • 1. The LIBE committee vote was scheduled for 29-30 May but should finally take place before the end of June.

EU Parliament Opens The Door to Copyright Repression in TAFTA

Submitted on 25 Apr 2013 - 16:36

Paris, 25 April 2013 — Today, the “International Trade” (INTA) committee of the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the proposed EU-US trade agreement – the “Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement” (TAFTA), also touted as the “Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership” (TTIP). The Parliament unfortunately decided to ignore the calls of civil society groups to keep “IP out of TAFTA”.

Regulation Set To Strip Citizens Of Their Right To Privacy

Submitted on 24 Apr 2013 - 17:40

Paris, 25 April 2013 — A coalition of international and european organisations, including Access, Bits of Freedom, Digitale Gesellschaft, EDRI, La Quadrature du Net, Open Rights Group, and Privacy International, release a commun campaign and website, nakedcitizens.eu. The site allows concerned citizens to contact their representatives in the European Parliament to urge them to vote in a way that ensures the protection of their fundamental right to privacy.

Regulation Set To Strip Citizens Of Their Right To Privacy

Civil rights groups urgently demand that Members of the European Parliament protect the privacy of their citizens

Since revisions to the EU legal framework on data protection were proposed, there has been an unprecedented level of lobbying by corporations and foreign governments. The European Parliament is considering dangerous amendments to the Commission's proposals. These amendments would strip citizens of their privacy rights, according to a report from a coalition of civil rights groups. The report bases its findings on the analysis of nearly 4000 proposed amendments currently discussed in the European Parliament.

Will the EU Parliament Let TAFTA Turn Into Another ACTA?

Submitted on 24 Apr 2013 - 09:31

Paris, 24 April 2013 — On 25 April next, the “International Trade” (INTA) committee of the European Parliament will vote on a draft resolution on the proposed EU-US trade agreement, the “Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement” (TAFTA), also touted as the “Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership” (TTIP). After the ACTA, SOPA, PIPA and CETA fights, once again the negotiators of this new trade agreement try to use it as an opportunity to impose online repression. With Thursday's vote, Members of the European Parliament can and must remove “intellectual property” provisions from the negotiations, and avoid an undemocratic trade agreement that will inflict the worst of both regimes’ rules on the other party. Instead, the current version of the resolution that will be put to vote on Thursday proposes to “include strong protection of intellectual property rights (IPR)” in TAFTA.