Per la salvaguardia della liberta' nelle comunicazioni

["Villa Luisa" <Luisa.Villa at altroconsumo.it> (by way of Carlo Gubitosa <c.gubitosa at peacelink.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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