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Per la salvaguardia della liberta' nelle comunicazioni
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@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@epic.org - Per
chiarimenti, contattare Cedric Laurant <chlaurant@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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