ugente: per la salvaguardia privacy delle comunicazioni

["Villa Luisa" <Luisa.Villa at altroconsumo.it>]

Alcune associazioni americane (The Electronic Privacy Information Center
(EPIC), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Center for
Democracy and Technology (CDT)and the Electronic Frontier Foundation
ACLU)stanno lanciando, via internet, l'invito a sottoscrivere una
lettera indirizzata al Presidente dell'UE in risposta alla richiesta di
BUSH di adottare in Europa l'obbligo di conservare e rendere disponibili
ad ispezioni le registrazioni di tutte le comunicazioni private.

Per sottoscrivere, dare notizia al seguente indirizzo:
eu_letter at epic.org non oltre l'11 novembre pv.

Tenete presente che il caro presidente Bush sta chiedendo ai governi
Europei di imporre degli obblighi alle compagnie di telecomunicazioni
europee che non potrebbe imporre in USA.


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	IN SINTESI ECCO LA QUESTIONE E L'AZIONE CHE SI RICHIEDE:
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*	Bush chiede al Presidente dell'Unione Europea di modificare le
attuali norme europee sulla privacy per permettere di accedere
legalmente alle registrazioni delle comunicazioni elettroniche personali
dei cittadini europei.

*	Col pretesto della lotta al terrorismo e la protezione della
pubblica sicurezza si vuole obbligare le compagnie europee a conservare
un'enorme massa di dati, per un tempo illimitato (mentre attualmente
andrebbero distrutte una volta terminato l'uso cui erano destinate) e
rendere questi dati accessibili senza dover presentare motivate
richieste in merito a quali comunicazioni e perché. Negli USA la legge
non permette un comportamento simile. Le norme federali consentono di
conservare ed accedere a determinate comunicazioni private solo quando è
in corso un'indagine, ma non richiedono un obbligo generalizzato a
carico delle compagnie di telecomunicazione di conservare tutti dati che
transitano sulle loro linee più a lungo di quanto normalmente
necessario.

*	La proposta vìola, inoltre, le norme internazionali sui diritti
umani ed è stata già rifiutata in passato dai Commissari europei
competenti sulla privacy e dai membri del Parlamento europeo.

*	La proposta ha un impatto negativo anche sulla privacy dei
cittadini statunitensi

*	Si chiede a gruppi e ad associazioni Europee e Statunitensi di
firmare la lettera indirizzata al Presidente di turno dell'Unione
Europea, Guy Verhofstadt, che esprime una rispettosa ma ferma
opposizione alla richiesta di Bush.

*	Per firmare: inviare il nome dell'organizzazione e l'URL, email
e fax di un referente entro 11 novembre a: eu_letter at epic.org - Per
chiarimenti, contattare Cedric Laurant <chlaurant at epic.org>

*	Si prega di far circolare questo messaggio ad altri gruppi fino
al giorno 11 novembre

Il testo della lettera e i riferimenti normativi che seguono sono in
inglese. Spero che questo non sia un fattore disincentivante a
mobilitarsi.


Cari saluti,

Luisa Villa

DRAFT

12 November 2001

Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt
President, EU Council of Ministers
Brussels, Belgium

Dear President Verhofstadt:

We write to you on behalf of a wide range of civic organizations in the
United States and Europe to express our concern regarding the request of
President Bush that the proposed EU directive on the protection of privacy
in the electronic communications sector (COM(2000)385) be altered to allow
for data retention regarding the communications of Europeans and
consequently of Americans. While we support the President's efforts to take
appropriate steps to reduce the risk of terrorism and to work with
government leaders to protect public safety, we do not believe that this
proposal is appropriate or necessary.

First of all, under United States law there is no similar obligation for
data retention by telecommunications companies. US federal law recognizes a
need to preserve data once a particular investigation is underway, but it
does not create a general obligation for communication carriers to retain
records on customers that are no longer required by the carriers. President
Bush is asking European governments to impose obligations on European
companies that would not be imposed on US companies.

Second, the European Privacy Commissioners and Members of the European
Parliament have opposed efforts to create new data retention obligations.
In the letter of 7 June 2001 to Mr. Göran Persson, President of the Council
of the European Union, the Chairman of the Article 29 Working Group wrote
that "Systematic and preventive storage of EU citizens communications and
related traffic data would undermine the fundamental rights to privacy,
data protection, freedom of expression, liberty and presumption of
innocence."

In a July 2001 report by the European Parliament Committee on Citizens'
Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs, Committee Members made clear
that restrictions to safeguard public security and conduct criminal
investigations should be appropriate, proportionate and limited in time and
that general or exploratory electronic surveillance on a large scale could
not be allowed. The Members also noted that Member States should not have a
general right to request whatever traffic and location data they wished
without the authorities stating a specific reason as to why such
information was needed, and that information should not be stored longer
than was necessary for the transmission of data and for traffic management
purposes.

Third, because communications data often moves between the United States
and Europe, European data retention requirements would directly and
adversely affect the privacy right sof Americans. There is a significant
risk, if this proposal goes forward, that US law enforcement agencies will
seek data held in Europe that it could not obtain at home, either because
it was not retained or because US law would not permit law enforcement
access.

Fourth, the retention of personal information that would otherwise be
destroyed upon the completion of its intended use creates new privacy and
security risks for citizens. Vast databases of personal data now include
sensitive medical information as well as data revealing political opinions,
religious and philosophical beliefs. These new retention requirements will
create new risks to personal privacy, political freedom, and public safety.

Further, the privacy commissioners have recognized that one of the best
privacy safeguards is to minimize the collection of personal data where
possible. They have consistently affirmed that confidentiality of
communications is one of "the most important elements of the protection of
the fundamental right to privacy and data protection as well as of secrecy
of communications", and that "any exception to this right and obligation
should be limited to what is strictly necessary in a democratic society and
clearly defined by law." A blanket retention of all traffic data for
hypothetical criminal investigations and for a long period of time would
not respect these basic conditions.

We note also that governments on both sides of the Atlantic have sought to
make secret public information that would otherwise assist the public in
understanding the threats it now faces. We do not believe it draws the
proper balance in a democratic society for the activities of government to
be concealed from public scrutiny while the private activities of citizens
are made open to government.

Finally, we believe it is inconsistent with well established international
norms for communications privacy, such as Article 8 of the European
Convention on Human Rights and Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, for governments to compel the retention of private
information for surveillance purposes. Confidentiality of communication is
a central tenet of modern democratic society. Proposals to reduce the
privacy of citizens will undermine the strength of the democratic state.

We have contacted President Bush regarding our concerns. We respectfully
urge you not to take any steps at this time that may reduce the privacy of
citizens.

Sincerely,

 Electronic Privacy Information Center

 American Civil Liberties Union

 Center for Democracy and Technology

 Electronic Frontier Foundation

 (list in formation)


cc: President George W. Bush

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