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              | Date: 2001-09-25 
 
 Terror: Offener Brief der NGOs in CNN-.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.-
 
 Ein offener Brief, in zwei Nächten der letzten Woche relativ hastig
 zwischen sieben europäischen NGOs akkordiert, zieht weite
 Kreise. Inzwischen ist er bereits bei CNN-Site angelangt
 
 Background
 http://www.quintessenz.at/archiv/msg01639.html
 
 Etwas weniger international, nämlich AT-weit: Am Nachmittag
 gastiert die quintessenzielle Doris bei Radio FM 4 [Connected ab
 14.00]. Um 21.00 beschäftigt sich der "Report" mit dem
 Überwachungsthema [21.00 ORF 2]
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 Euro civil liberty campaigners urge restraint
 
 By Joris Evers
 
 (IDG) -- Police and intelligence services should not get new or
 extended communication interception powers or increased access
 to information, say seven European privacy and civil liberties
 organizations in an open letter to the European Council.
 
 In the letter, sent Friday, the organizations from Austria, Denmark,
 Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. urge the European Council
 to defend citizens' freedom and rights in the wake of the terrorist
 attacks on the U.S.
 
 "There is a climate now where it is possible to get measures into
 place fast. Measures that would otherwise not be allowed," said
 Maurice Wessling of Bits of Freedom in Amsterdam.
 
 "Privacy and civil liberties must be part of the debate. They are very
 important subjects that can't be shoved aside. Privacy and civil
 liberties are always on the agenda in the U.S. In Europe, that's
 much less the case," he said.
 
 The European Council, convening Friday in Brussels, is made up of
 the heads of state or government of the 15 member states of the
 European Union and the president of the European Commission.
 The groups in their letter acknowledge that European leaders wish
 to enhance the security of their countries, but question the
 effectiveness and proportionality of extended powers for law
 enforcement and warn against the "grave loss of privacy" that would
 lead to.
 
 "The existence of the Echelon system did not provide intelligence
 services with information about the attacks in the U.S. We are
 concerned that Echelon and similar systems threaten the rights of
 all European citizens without achieving their stated goals," the
 letter states.
 
 Echelon is the code name for a global electronic-surveillance
 network believed to be run in part by the U.S. National Security
 Agency (NSA). U.S. officials have never officially confirmed the
 existence of Echelon, but an investigative committee of the
 European Parliament recently concluded that the spy network is
 real.
 
 In addition, the civil liberty and privacy groups ask the European
 leaders to promote encryption as a way to guarantee privacy of
 electronic communications and not to implement legislation that
 would force Internet and telecommunication service providers to
 retain traffic data for use by law enforcement.
 
 "Retention of traffic data will in effect transform our communications
 infrastructure into a surveillance system that records intimate
 details of the personal life of all citizens," the groups state in the
 letter.
 
 The European Justice and Home Affairs ministers met on Thursday
 to discuss which measures to take to maintain "the highest level of
 security" and to combat terrorism. Issues such as wiretapping
 were discussed, according to the meeting conclusions. However,
 No concrete plans to extend the powers of law enforcement are in
 place, according to Wessling.
 
 The organizations that signed the open letter are Bits of Freedom
 in the Netherlands; Chaos Computer Club and Fitug in Germany;
 Digital Rights, Denmark; Foundation for Information Policy
 Research and Privacy International, both in the U.K., and
 Quintessenz in Austria.
 
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 Source
 http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/09/24/civil.liberties.idg/index.html
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 edited by Harkank
 published on: 2001-09-25
 comments to office@quintessenz.at
 subscribe Newsletter
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