Paris, 12 august 2016 – La Quadrature du Net supports Reporters Without Borders with its action against the German bill on BND surveillance, which would allow the German foreign intelligence service to spy on foreign journalists. This bill is a direct attack on freedom of information, and thus undermines democracy and fundamental rights. German MPs must refuse to yield on values that they would defend for their own country just as well as foreign surveillance is concerned. Fundamental rights cannot simply be accommodated whenever convenient.

Paris, 8 August 2016 — Today, a coalition of more than 30 NGOs and civil liberties organisations from around the world sent an open letter to lawmakers in charge of telecoms regulation encouraging them to support the development and implementation of robust net neutrality rules alongside the deployment of high quality broadband and next-generation networks.

The letter is a response to the recently published “5G Manifesto” in which telecoms operators threaten to withhold 5G investment unless regulators water down European Union rules on net neutrality and other rules, including provisions on network access and privacy. This attack comes at a time when the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC) is currently developing guidelines for the implementation of the adopted net neutrality rules.

Paris, 21 July 2016 — Once again. The State of Emergency in France has been extended until January. In reaction to violence shaking the country and with the presidential election of 2017 only a few months away, political leaders are indulging an ignominious orgy of security-driven policy. Not satisfied with merely prolonging the state of emergency, lawmakers have also amended the 2015 Intelligence Act passed last year to legalize domestic mass surveillance.

Paris, 18 July 2016 — Today ends the BEREC consultation on Net Neutrality. This consultation aimed at consulting the people on the guidelines clarifying the implementation of the telecom regulation1. The version sent by La Quadrature du Net is the one written by the FDN Federation, we believe this answer is appropriate and we support its provisions.

• 1. The regulation was adopted on 25 November 2015 and entered into force in April 2016

Paris, 5 July 2016 — Yesterday evening, the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs) adopted the draft Directive on Combating Terrorism proposed by the European Commission by 41 votes to 4 with 10 abstentions. The EPP (conservative) Rapporteur Monika Hohlmeier had turned the directive into a text that will give credence to the worst anti-terrorism and surveillance laws from across the European Union. She clearly bowed under pressure from the French Government (FR), who is seeking to whitewash its own controversial laws regarding surveillance and websites censorship at the European level. La Quadrature du Net denounces this "europeanisation" of extrajudicial surveillance and censorship, all the more considering that the process surrounding the directive is in and of itself a staggering denial of democracy: Indeed, the draft Directive will be further discussed in secret trialogue negotiations, which will preclude any substantial amendment during the plenary debate of the European Parliament. Under the guise of security, the European Union is undermining its own fundamental values.

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.

Paris, 7 June 2016 — BEREC1 just published its draft guidelines that aims at clarifying the telecoms regulation2 and therefore the net neutrality. After secret negotiations between the national regulators (ARCEP in France) within BEREC it seems that nothing was put in place in order to facilitate the consultation process. La Quadrature du Net calls on all Internet users who care about a strong defense of net neutrality to join and to respond together to this consultation.

• 1. European Regulators for Electronic Communications
• 2. The regulation was adopted on 25 November 2015 and entered into force in April 2016

Paris, 1st June 2016 — Far from the French and European media spotlights, a draft directive on terrorism is being discussed at the European Parliament and will be voted on 15 June. This directive, aiming to frame the European counter-terrorism policies and laws, is crucial for Europeans to enjoy their fundamental rights.
But the current political discussions and negotiations would lead to widespread fiasco on freedoms and to an alignment of the worst policies violating civil rights, especially on the Internet, through censorship and surveillance. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) must redress the balance and strengthen the safeguards provided for the European citizens.

Paris, 13 April 2016 — On 23 March, the European Commission launched a consultation on the role of publishers in the copyright value chain and on the 'panorama exception'. While this consultation reflects the will of the Commission to tackle possible exemptions to copyright, it is far less progressive than the recommendations made by the European Parliament through the Reda report. Even worse, the questionnaire is directed towards creating a new kind of "editor's right", at the expense of authors and users, a path that the Parliament rejected at the time.

Paris, 24 May 2016 — La Quadrature du Net publishes an article from Benjamin Bayart, member of the Strategic Directions Council of La Quadrature du Net. This article was written on behalf of the Federation FDN and was initially plublished in French here.

Paris, 17 May 2016 — When faced with a wall, you need to know when to stop banging your head against it. After years of legal violence, defeats and steady erosion of fundamental rights, and confronted with an elected political body whose only logic is to reinforce the security apparatus, La Quadrature du Net has decided to stop wasting time trying to appeal to the reason of those who won't listen, and is now taking a new direction for its actions.

Paris, 13 May 2016 — This week La Quadrature du Net was invited to participate to a workshop at the ARCEP1 in order to discuss the guidelines in the making by the BEREC and the new regulatory framework concerning Net Neutrality. While stressing the openness of the ARCEP, La Quadrature du Net deeply regrets that on such a crucial subject the negotiations were shadowy, without clear goals and keeping the possibility to by-pass Net Neutrality and thus threaten fundamental liberties.

• 1. The ARCEP is the French regulator authority of electronic communications and postal services

Paris, 11 May 2016 — The Exégètes amateurs, the legal team of La Quadrature du Net, FDN and FFDN, has submitted new legal briefs in its legal challenge before the French Council of State against the 2015 Intelligence Act and its implementation decrees. The briefs detail all the arguments developed against this dangerous law. For the most part, the strategy consists in mobilizing the case law of the European Court of Justice's (ECJ). A very worrying provision completely overlooked during the parliamentary debate last year is also targeted with a constitutional challenge (called QPC procedure)1

The analysis below is published on the Exegetes' website.

• 1. The QPC is a French Constitutional Law procedure allowing persons involved in a pending case to ask the Constitutional Council to assess the constitutionality of the laws relating to the case at hand.