received from: Nizkor English Service <nzkspain@derechos.org> Nizkor Int. Human Rights Team Derechos Human Rights Serpaj Europe Information 08dec99 ASSOCIATIONS AND TRADE UNIONS ADOPT SET OF PRINCIPLES ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT BY GOVERNMENTS, ESPECIALLY REGARDING THE INTERNET NETWORK AND CIVIL RIGHTS PROTECTION. INTRODUCTION: Two years in a row, representatives from "groups, associations, and trade unions" have met in Paris under the sponsorship of a group called IRIS to discuss policies that would create and preserve an "Internet that promotes non-commercial interests and solidarity." The final motion passed by the second forum, which took place on November 27, 1999, appears below. This document should interest people around the world who are concerned with access to information for all, even though a few of the statements touch on particular French laws. Supplementary statements and a description of the forum itself (with photos) are available at http://www.assises.sgdg.org/ in French. Also of interest to those who read French are a set of "85 recommendations for a democratic Internet in the year 2000" (http://www.iris.sgdg.org/documents/rapport-lsi/) which range from "Assure the liberty of online communications while clarifying each individual's rights and responsibilities" to "Prevent electronic commerce from escaping public financial responsibilites." ------------------------------------------- MOTION OF THE PARTICIPANTS AT THE SECOND FORUM ON AN INTERNET THAT PROMOTES NON-COMMERCIAL INTERESTS AND SOLIDARITY. Adopted in Paris on November 27, 1999 The assembly of groups, associations, and trade unions represented on November 27, 1999 in Paris at the second forum on an Internet that promotes non-commercial interests and solidarity, at their working session on the implementation of the recent law "concerning the information society," conclude the following: - We observe that current government policies fail to deal with many societal aspects of their effects. - We declare our attachment to the following principles. 1. Concerning online users' responsibility: - Respect for individual and public liberties, guaranteed by the fundamental texts of national and international bodies, should prevail over all other considerations. - The legal doctrine of "vicarious liability" is not applicable to public communication on the Internet. The authors of such communication are equally its editors on the Internet, outside of professional contributors where their employers are the editors. - Only a judicial authority can determine the illegal character of content on the Internet. Outside of questions relevant to the protection of personal data, any other form of control should not be allowed, a priori or a posteriori, by technical intermediaries or by private or public organizations. The principle stated here rules out the idea of "autoregulation" or "coregulation." 2. Concerning the regulation of content on the Internet: - The notion of the "moral obligation of content" (deontology) makes no sense: there is no deontology except along the lines of a person's occupation, and such obligation is already exercized by professionals. - The regulation of public content on the Internet should remain under the common rule of law, which guarantees liberty of expression and enumerates potential abuses precisely and in a strictly limited sense. - Content labelling cannot be accepted except in a voluntary and positive manner. It cannot be imposed on the authors of Internet sites. - The filtering of this content should remain the responsibility of the end users, or of their guardians in cases where the end users are not legally responsible. 3. Concerning the confidentiality and protection of personal data: - The protection of fundamental rights of citizens takes place through the guarantee of confidentiality -- which includes the total liberalization of cryptography and the non-tracability of messages -- as well as by the strictest protection of their personal data. - Each individual should have the power to use any means that he or she finds convenient to protect the confidentiality of his or her communications, without escrow of private encryption keys. - No personal data should be stored without the knowledge of the parties concerned, or used without their express consent. - The storage of data relating to individuals should not excede one month in duration, like in the current case of video surveillance tape storage. 4. Concerning democratic control over police investigations: - The fight against crime at the national, European, or international level should not be a pretext for weakening the fundamental rights of citizens. - A parliamentary commission of inquiry, together with the European Parliament, should examine every organization and/or decree that can potentially weaken the protection of privacy and personal data. A body responsible for oversight should be put in place to assure follow-up for the results of the inquiry. In particular, the activities of Europol, such as systems for the interception of communications like ECHELON, should be subject to examination. 5. Concerning trade union rights and worker rights: - Any illegitimate surveillance of workers should be heavily punished. The rights to exchange correspondence and to the privacy of this correspondence should be explicitely upheld. - Trade union rights should be extended to the use of the Internet within enterprises and establishments, on the basis of the law of December 27, 1968. - A national debate should be opened over changes in working conditions caused by telecommuting and the information-driven transformation of society. 6. Concerning controls on advertising and unsolicited communications: - Every message that is an advertisement or is prodominated by advertising should be clearly marked as such. - The reception of unsolicited communications should be subject to the express consent of the end users. - Invasive forms of advertisement that disturb the reading of a site's editorial content should be prohibited. 7. Concerning traditional author's rights and the right to information: - Traditional "author's rights" should be preserved and respected. - The right to information should be exercized through the concept of private copy, and the extension of this concept to that of fair use, or use for non-commercial purposes, education, and research. - Access to public data without charge and to teleprocedures for conducting public services online should be extended. - It should not be possible to patent ideas, which we define to include programming methods and algorithms. - The production and use of free and open content and software should be encouraged and covered by public policy. 8. Concerning the democratization of Internet access: - Universal service in telecommunications should be extended to include Internet access for all, along with a drastic reduction of local communciation costs. Permanent, "always-on" connections should be promoted, with each individual capable of acting as an information provider. - The assignment of domain names within ccTLDs controlled in France (such as .fr) and within authorized gTLDs (such as .org, .com, and .net) should be a public service, sold on a non-profit basis at rates affordable by individuals as well as groups. - The democratization of Internet access requires the acquisition of a basic information and electronic education by all, so that each individual is competent to master social transformations in all their practical and civic aspects. This goal should be entered into the mission of public education, which can delegate it under certain circumstances to non-profit institutions having the same goal. 9. Concerning the struggle against commercialization: - The exception to trade rules for cultural activities should be extended to all multifunctional sectors, such as education and culture. - The availability of services, utilities, and content for non-commercial use on the Internet contribute to this multifunctionality and to cultural diversity. - The development of electronic commerce should not serve as a pretext for abandoning public services and the sovereignty of the state, notably in terms of fiscal revenues. [Equipo Nizkor documentary note. Source: Global Internet Liberty Campaign - GILC, by way of Meryem Marzouki IRIS. Translation into English and Introduction by Andy Oram from CPSR] ------------------------------------------ FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Meryem Marzouki - IRIS - 294 rue de Charenton, 75012 Paris, France. Tel/Fax: +33(0)144749239 - http://www.iris.sgdg.org ------------------------------------------ USEFUL LINKS: - Global Internet Liberty Campaign - GILC (Key issues: free speech, privacy, cryptography, access) http://www.gilc.org/ - Report on International Status of Privacy: "Privacy and Human Rights 1999". Electronic Privacy Information Center Washington, DC, USA. Privacy International London, UK http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/ - "Cryptography and Liberty 1999: An international Survey of Encryption Policy". Electronic Privacy Information Center Washington, DC http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto1999.html#_Toc450793110 - "An Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control". Scientific and Technological Options Assessment - STOA. 06jan98. http://cryptome.org/stoa-atpc.htm -- ---------------------------------- Send mail for the 'huridocs-tech' list to 'huridocs-tech@hrea.org'. Mail administrative requests to 'majordomo@hrea.org'. 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