Media News - Tuesday, December 13, 2011

European Commission promotes online freedom with No Disconnect strategy

The European Commission has outlined plans to ensure that citizens globally have access to the internet and other communications services to protect their privacy and facilitate protests against repressive regimes. Digital Agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes said on Friday ahead of the launch of the EC's No Disconnect strategy Monday that the EC must help to provide ICT technologies to people when regimes attempt to curb access to key online services. "It is clear that mobile phones, online social networks and micro-blogging sites have an incredibly important role to play [in] helping activists organise, mobilise and exercise their rights. We should support the use of those tools," she said. Kroes explained this could include providing technologies that enable dissidents to avoid being tracked by those in power. Kroes explained that this could take the form of an "internet survival pack" that provides easy-to-use software or hardware packages allowing populations to bypass censorship. However, she added that these efforts require private sector companies that develop tracking and surveillance tools to be open about the governments they sell to and to impose self-regulation. (V3.co.uk)

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