Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-10-20-Speech-3-791"
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"en.20101020.30.3-791"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are clearly faced with a text whose complexity troubles many of us and, even more, in my opinion, the citizens of Europe. Commissioner, I asked for transparency and you responded. Today, I am somewhat concerned.
Indeed, as I see it, beyond the purely technical issues, the main risk is that of the direction we are beginning to take with regard to this increasingly complex relationship between individual freedoms and the Internet. The world is changing rapidly, and we are all aware of this. We are all aware of the revolution taking place in access not only to information but also to culture via this tool.
In today’s world, where such access is immediate and free, traditional reference points are being undermined. Our most complex task is, therefore, to define new regulations, because regulation is necessary not only to protect artists and rights holders; but I do not want to see individual freedoms ignored.
As regards the protection of freedoms, one of the most important of which is the protection of the right to privacy, one of my main concerns is the possibility afforded by the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) of travellers’ personal effects and baggage being checked at borders. Does this mean that our mobile telephones, our MP3 players and our computers may be searched by customs authorities looking for illegally downloaded files?
According to the Commission, this is just a possibility, because the precise term used in the text is not binding. It is said that the Member States may choose whether or not to allow their personal luggage to be searched. However, let us get serious here for a minute. How can one expect such wording not to be seen as incitement to carry out such checks? Do you really think that a government, especially if it is pressurised to some extent by its music industry – and I cite this example deliberately – will not take this opportunity afforded by ACTA to move its national legislation towards increased screening of passengers entering its territory?
Another problem is that, if it is proved that the files held by a private individual are for commercial use, punishment is automatic. However, who determines whether the files we hold are of a commercial nature or not? Some may say that a person with 500 songs on his or her MP3 player necessarily has commercial objectives, but why would others deny themselves the opportunity to fix this limit at 300, 100, 50 or 10? In fact, for an ill-intentioned person, all it takes is to illegally download a single film in order to make thousands of copies of it, and that then becomes commercial activity.
Finally, punishment will be meted out by the courts of each country, but a European citizen arrested by the border authorities of a signatory country on the basis of particularly binding legislation will have no means of challenging it. Is it your wish that such an abuse be possible? Was it not the responsibility of the Commission precisely to do everything it could to ensure that the agreement prohibits searches of personal effects?
I have deliberately raised only this issue this evening, but you have raised many more, which we will incorporate into the resolution I have requested and which will ordinarily be voted on in next month’s plenary. Commissioner, I would ask you to take account of the outcome of this vote, which will be in line with our commitment, that is, to take account of the word of the European Parliament before you sign the act."@en1
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