Slashdot Mirror

Actually, it isn't "one ignorant guy". It's at least two ignorant MEPs: from Italy and Anna Záborská from Slovakia. They co-authored the Written Declaration 29, where they state quite bluntly that they want every european citizen being constantly monitored by the police to avoid putting some hypothetical nasty criminal "on the same footing as honest citizens and making it difficult for the authorities to trace them".

More on this in:

• Christian Engström's blog, a Pirate MEP
• EU's Data Retention Directive

Actually, it isn't "one ignorant guy". It's at least two ignorant MEPs: from Italy and Anna Záborská from Slovakia. They co-authored the Written Declaration 29, where they state quite bluntly that they want every european citizen being constantly monitored by the police to avoid putting some hypothetical nasty criminal "on the same footing as honest citizens and making it difficult for the authorities to trace them".

More on this in:

• Christian Engström's blog, a Pirate MEP
• EU's Data Retention Directive

See also his cynical smile29 campaign. He is no real MEP, he is a media lobbyist from Berlusconi who harasses Google a bit. The astroturf seat in Parliament.

Motti is one of Berlusconi's astroturf MEPs. He is an Italian media lobbyist with an MEP seat. See also his recent smile29 campaign for Google data retention

2. Asks the Council and the Commission to implement Directive 2006/24/EC [DATA RETENTION] and extend it
to search engines in order to tackle online child pornography and sex offending rapidly and effectively;

What a cynical campaign.

Original article from europaportalen.se

Headline: "I do not want to save Google searches"
Caption: Tiziano Motti now says he does not want to save Google searches. Photo: European Parliament

Italian Tiziano Motti, who was behind the proposal to save searches on Google says he has been misunderstood. Yesterday, his proposal got a majority in the European Parliament.

"It's not the colour of the cat that matters; it's that the cat catches the mouse. And I'm the cat."

This is how Tiziano Motti presented himself in an Italian TV programme when he was a candidate in the EP elections last year. He was a private entrepreneur without a political party who travelled around in north-east Italy and met young people to get their votes with the slogan: "Vote for me – I'm like you".

The campaign was successful. In just a few months, Motti succeeded in getting enough support for a Christian democratic party to "adopt" him three days before the lists of candidates were to be published, and in the election, he defeated the region's incumbent MEP.

Motti did not do his campaigning in marketplaces or party meetings. Instead, he went to night clubs, where he often stayed until six in the morning. "You have to be where the young people are, and they're at the discos. On on the Net", says Tiziano Motti.

He has a tan, a flawless smile, wears a jacket and jeans, which is unusual for a MEP, especially an Italian one. The election campaign is not the only connection to the Net in Tiziano Motti's case. He is the author of the high-profile proposal to expand the controversial data retention directive to include search engines as part of the fight against child pornography. "Another step on the way to a surveillance society!", critics say.

After Europaportalen wrote about Motti's proposal a few weeks ago, a few MEPs started to withdraw their support. They had not understood what they had signed, since the data retention directive was not mentioned in the proposal. Only the technical identifier, 2006/24/EC, was mentioned. Cecilia Wikström (Liberal People's Party, Sweden) sent a letter to alla 736 MEPs, warning them.

Tiziano Motti is aware of the Swedish debate. He feels it is unfair, but is not surprised. "I expected these reactions. Every time one discusses data retention and the Internet, it's like two worlds colliding: one that wants broad freedoms on the Internet and another that is of the opinion that the right not to be violated on the Net is very important.

And a defender of rights is what Tiziano Motti considers himself to be. He is the founder of the Europe of Rights movement with more than 100 000 members in Italy. Among the honorary members are several MPs, mostly from Silvio Berlusconi's party The People of Freedom. The movement aims to protect ordinary citizens' freedoms and rights.

How does the defence of citizens' rights go together with storing everyone's Google searches? "It doesn't", says Tiziano Motti.

He does not want to save all searches on the Net. "The proposal is actually about so-called 'content providers'; the people who let you put material on the Internet, such as Facebook, Youtube or blogging tools. They are the ones who should retain IP numbers, just like ISPs must do today according to the data retention directive.", he says.

Motti says that the debate is built on a misunderstanding of his initiative. However, the text is clear: "The European Parliament [...] Asks the Council and the Commission to implement Directive 2006/24/EC and extend it to search engines in order to tackle online child pornography and sex offending rapidly and effectively".

Why, then, did you write 'search engines' instead of 'content providers'? "I did t

This declaration doesn't seem like a law, more like the equivalent to a US Congressional Non-Binding Resolution, having no force of law on its own, and hoping the parties being addressed will react to the non-binding request. In other words, it seems to me like hot air to feed special interests.

Here's the actual text:

---

"I am pleased to inform you that, together with my colleague Ms Anna Záborská MEP, I have submitted
Written Declaration No 29 requesting the establishment of a European early warning system for
paedophiles and sex offenders. A normal childhood for our children means a solid future for our, and
for their, European Union. Any act of violence suffered by a woman or a child is an indelible defeat of
the rules of civilised coexistence. We would therefore be very grateful if, as many other colleagues
have already done, you could support this important Written Declaration No 29 'On setting up a
European early warning system (EWS) for paedophiles and sex offenders'. The proposal does
not involve the establishment of a new European agency but rather greater levels of cooperation
between the public authorities and civil society in order to defend the weaker members of society
and protect the rights of all.
I may be contacted as follows:
Tiziano Motti MEP
ASP 9E209
Tel. 45247
tiziano.motti@europarl.europa.eu
Declaration No 29 may be signed:
- Outside the Hemicycle during the part-sessions
- At the office of the Members' Activities Unit in Brussels, PHS 2A 019
Thank you in advance,
Tiziano Motti MEP"

---

They seem to do these a lot, in terms of declaring a condemnation of Israel, or having a declaration on violence against women - hot air to feel good and influence constituents, without any real legal meaning on its own.

To put it in programming terms, it seems to me they're declaring an intention - not instantiating a law. Bad in terms of intentions towards what little privacy remains, but not yet acting to change law.

My interpretation could certainly be wrong - but that seems to be how the wording strikes me.

Ryan Fenton

You're wrong!

Your text is just the email that is sent to EU politicians to ask them to sign the actual declaration.

The declaration is a petitition to harder enforce and extend directive 2006/24/EG. All EU directives have to become LAW in member states, even though, with most EU directives, some states usually deliberately delay the actual implementation.

From the English language(*) PDF containing the actal declaration that the EU parliament members and other people is asked to sign, linked from the site slashdots links to:

Asks the Council and the Commission to implement Directive 2006/24/EC and extend it
to search engines in order to tackle online child pornography and sex offending rapidly
and effectively

EU politicians from The Swedish Christian Democratic Party (actually, despite being "democratic" by name, they are rather fascistoid in general, like most Christain "Democratic" parties of Europe), have already said that they will vote in favor of this extension in the EU parliament.

(*) There are small but important differences between the translations of the document, especially the English one stands out. This may be because not all languages are created equal, few languages make bullshiting as easy as in English (actually, I can't think of any language that is as vague as English, unless the context is more precise of "the level of vagueness"). If you want to know what an EU document is really about, read it in languages (many!) like German, Swedish and Spanish, and avoid vagueness enhancing languages like French (the language of diplomates ==

This declaration doesn't seem like a law, more like the equivalent to a US Congressional Non-Binding Resolution, having no force of law on its own, and hoping the parties being addressed will react to the non-binding request. In other words, it seems to me like hot air to feed special interests.

Here's the actual text:

---

"I am pleased to inform you that, together with my colleague Ms Anna Záborská MEP, I have submitted
Written Declaration No 29 requesting the establishment of a European early warning system for
paedophiles and sex offenders. A normal childhood for our children means a solid future for our, and
for their, European Union. Any act of violence suffered by a woman or a child is an indelible defeat of
the rules of civilised coexistence. We would therefore be very grateful if, as many other colleagues
have already done, you could support this important Written Declaration No 29 'On setting up a
European early warning system (EWS) for paedophiles and sex offenders'. The proposal does
not involve the establishment of a new European agency but rather greater levels of cooperation
between the public authorities and civil society in order to defend the weaker members of society
and protect the rights of all.
I may be contacted as follows:
Tiziano Motti MEP
ASP 9E209
Tel. 45247
tiziano.motti@europarl.europa.eu
Declaration No 29 may be signed:
- Outside the Hemicycle during the part-sessions
- At the office of the Members' Activities Unit in Brussels, PHS 2A 019
Thank you in advance,
Tiziano Motti MEP"

---

They seem to do these a lot, in terms of declaring a condemnation of Israel, or having a declaration on violence against women - hot air to feel good and influence constituents, without any real legal meaning on its own.

To put it in programming terms, it seems to me they're declaring an intention - not instantiating a law. Bad in terms of intentions towards what little privacy remains, but not yet acting to change law.

My interpretation could certainly be wrong - but that seems to be how the wording strikes me.

Ryan Fenton

You're wrong!

Your text is just the email that is sent to EU politicians to ask them to sign the actual declaration.

The declaration is a petitition to harder enforce and extend directive 2006/24/EG. All EU directives have to become LAW in member states, even though, with most EU directives, some states usually deliberately delay the actual implementation.

From the English language(*) PDF containing the actal declaration that the EU parliament members and other people is asked to sign, linked from the site slashdots links to:

Asks the Council and the Commission to implement Directive 2006/24/EC and extend it
to search engines in order to tackle online child pornography and sex offending rapidly
and effectively

EU politicians from The Swedish Christian Democratic Party (actually, despite being "democratic" by name, they are rather fascistoid in general, like most Christain "Democratic" parties of Europe), have already said that they will vote in favor of this extension in the EU parliament.

(*) There are small but important differences between the translations of the document, especially the English one stands out. This may be because not all languages are created equal, few languages make bullshiting as easy as in English (actually, I can't think of any language that is as vague as English, unless the context is more precise of "the level of vagueness"). If you want to know what an EU document is really about, read it in languages (many!) like German, Swedish and Spanish, and avoid vagueness enhancing languages like French (the language of diplomates ==

Come on, guys, this is vastly blown out of proportion. What they are calling for has nothing to do with google and such - the "early warning system" (like the one for food) is just that - if a contaminated/dangerous product is detected in one country, it gets immediately disseminated to all members so it can be pulled quickly. This is likely going to be the same thing - sharing of information, which is, IMO, a good thing.

On the other hand, if they were calling for new laws, I would be worried. However, there is nothing like that anywhere - you can find the declaration here.

http://smile29.eu/doc/DS29_EN.pdf