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Deutsch: Freiheit statt Angst: Hochsaison für (digitale) Bürgerrechte in Euro...
European policy making has long been blind to the digital environment, ignoring the potentials of the Internet and the positive impact of the free flow of information in society.
Over the last 10 years, an increasing number of surveillance measures have restricted civil liberties and have promoted fear rather than freedom. A large number of measures have been or are currently being introduced and result in a restriction of the fundamental rights of all citizens in the EU: the data retention directive, the SWIFT and PNR agreements, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, data exchanges with the USA without proper data protection laws or the blanket collection of our biometric data - just to mention a few.
After a couple of attempts to launch a series of European digital civil rights events, the necessary preconditions for its success are now better than ever. National governments are more and more aware of the various issues involved by the Internet and are getting involved in addressing these issues. However, since they seemed to have had only fear to offer in the last decade, one of the main goals of the movement is to provide a positive discourse. The international Freedom not Fear week laid another stone for a counterbalance to the well organised and influential industry lobby. The week started on 10 September 2011 in Berlin, Dresden, Vienna, Brussels, Luxembourg and Warsaw. It ended with a final weekend in Brussels from 17 to 19 September 2011.
On the initiative of unwatched.org talks workshops were organized in Vienna to discuss civil rights and modern data protection laws. Sessions were dedicated to topics including the right to information, open data, PNR, web blocking and current situation regarding data retention in Austria.
The three-day event in Brussels was organised by the German working group on data retention (AK Vorrat) and the Belgian Net Users' Rights Protection Association. It was supported by many European organisations including EDRi-members Bits of Freedom, FoeBuD, Liga voor Mensenrechten, Digitale Gesellschaft.
On 17 September, protesters descended on Brussels for the first time to confront European policies and to call on the European institutions to preserve their freedom and civil rights. The protesters want their fundamental rights to be respected in the networked world. Furthermore, many of the protesters feared that information stored by governments was not secure and was bound to be hacked, leaked, abused or misinterpreted. In a speech in front of the European Commission, Patrick Breyer (AK Vorrat) underlined the importance of the weekend to contribute to a free and open society that we want our children to grow up in.
The three-day event in Brussels also included an international conference on Sunday where a series of working groups on data retention, CCTV surveillance, net neutrality and PNR were held. On Monday, the participants shared their concerns in discussions with representatives from the European Commission and Members of the European Parliament regarding the revision of the data retention directive and the current negotiations on passenger name record agreements. Activists from all over Europe took the opportunity to network and to launch an international platform for all future campaigns under the banner "Freedom not Fear".
Freedom not Fear platform
http://wiki.freedomnotfear.org
Events in
Berlin
http://www.freiheitstattangst.de/
Brussels
http://wiki.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/Freedom_Not_Fear_2011/Brussels
Vienna
http://www.unwatched.org/Freiheit_statt_Angst_2011
Luxembourg
http://piratenpartei.lu/node/380
Warsaw
http://wolnyinternet.panoptykon.org/
(Contribution by Kirsten Fiedler - EDRi)