Paris, 4 July 2016 — This evening the committee of the European Parliament on Civil Liberties (LIBE) will vote on the draft directive on combating terrorism. La Quadrature du Net already warned about the dangerous provisions of this text and urges once more MEPs to oppose this text.

UPDATE 30 JUNE 2016: The vote of the draft in LIBE committee is postponed to the 4 July 2016.
UPDATE 21 JUNE 2016: The vote of the draft in LIBE committee is postponed to the 27 June 2016.

Paris, 20 June 2016 — Unless it is postponed in the last minute1, a vote will take place tomorrow in the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament on the directive on combating terrorism. The rapporteur Ms Hohlmeier also asks for a mandate to open negotiations with the EU Council in trialogue2 before the EP plenary. This unjustified and dangerous bypassing of democratic process aims at preventing MEPs and citizens from looking too close into the dangerous provisions of this directive.

• 1. Our latest informations tell us that the vote could be postponed to the 27 June.
• 2. Trialogues are conciliation committees between the European Parliament, Council of the EU and the European Commission.

Paris, 20 June 2016 — The undersigned civil society organisations are deeply concerned about the Directive on combating terrorism and the European Commission's initiatives that could enable and encourage needless or even counter-productive censorship, both by platforms and by governments, without judicial oversight. The NGOs sign a joint letter to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to urge them to avoid making this mistake.

Op-Ed by Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net, initially published, edited, by Taz in German on February 12, 2015

Recent Paris attacks have triggered a wave of securitarian discourse and dangerous upcoming legislative measures that are spreading way beyond France. Increased control of communications online, surveillance, attacks against anonymous speech and encryption are already on the table, under the pretence of fighting an invisible enemy in a perpetual war.

Paris, 30 September 2014 — The European Union's “Digital Agenda” should not only be about digits and economy. It is also about rights and freedom. After several hours of hearing of Günther Oettinger, the designated EU Commissioner for the “Digital Economy and Society”, one question remains unanswered: what about the protection of fundamental rights in the digital environment?

Paris, 22 September 2014 — Last week, a nearly empty French lower house (National Assembly) voted with a large majority in favour of the “bill strengthening provisions on the fight against terrorism”. In an atmosphere heavy with “apocalyptic” anxiety and speeches on the terrorist threat – particularly online –, interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and rapporteur Sébastien Pietrasanta wore down all opposition, blocking any further thought on the serious breaches of the Rule of Law contained in this bill.

Paris, 15 January 2014 — Last October, the European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling against an Estonian news portal (“Delfi”), making the platform liable for defamatory comments posted by third users. This ruling threatens to encourage privatised censorship and to severely undermine public debate online. From a legal perspective, as NGO Article 19 wrote at the time, “this judgment displays a profound failure to understand the EU legal framework regulating intermediary liability. In addition, it conveniently ignores relevant international standards in the area of freedom of expression on the Internet”. Many organizations and companies all across Europe have sent the following letter to the ECHR's president to support Delfi's appeal to the Court's “Grand Chamber”, which still has the power to overturn this dangerous ruling.

Paris, 24 October 2012 – While the European Commission sets out an action plan for online gambling, La Quadrature du Net warns about the risk of Internet content censorship, and urges Member States's governments to refuse the instrumentalisation of child protection for unacceptable measures.