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.PE526.085v02-00 38/52 PR\1014703EN.docENpivotal role of the media in a democracy to ensure accountability of Governments.Whensupervisory mechanisms fail to prevent or rectify mass surveillance, the role of media andwhistleblowers in unveiling eventual illegalities or misuses of power is extremely important.Reactions from the US and UK authorities to the media have shown the vulnerability of boththe press and whistleblowers and the urgent need to do more to protect them.The European Union is called on to choose between a  business as usual policy (sufficientreasons not to act, wait and see) and a  reality check policy (surveillance is not new, but thereis enough evidence of an unprecedented magnitude of the scope and capacities of intelligenceagencies requiring the EU to act).Habeas Corpus in a Surveillance SocietyIn 1679 the British parliament adopted the Habeas Corpus Act as a major step forward insecuring the right to a judge in times of rival jurisdictions and conflicts of laws.Nowadaysour democracies ensure proper rights for a convicted or detainee who is in person physicallysubject to a criminal proceeding or deferred to a court.But his or her data, as posted,processed, stored and tracked on digital networks form a  body of personal data , a kind ofdigital body specific to every individual and enabling to reveal much of his or her identity,habits and preferences of all types.Habeas Corpus is recognised as a fundamental legal instrument to safeguarding individualfreedom against arbitrary state action.What is needed today is an extension of Habeas Corpusto the digital era.Right to privacy, respect of the integrity and the dignity of the individual areat stake.Mass collections of data with no respect for EU data protection rules and specificviolations of the proportionality principle in the data management run counter to theconstitutional traditions of the Member States and the fundaments of the Europeanconstitutional order.The main novelty today is these risks do not only originate in criminal activities (againstwhich the EU legislator has adopted a series of instruments) or from possible cyber-attacksfrom governments of countries with a lower democratic record.There is a realisation that suchrisks may also come from law-enforcement and intelligence services of democratic countriesputting EU citizens or companies under conflicts of laws resulting in a lesser legal certainty,with possible violations of rights without proper redress mechanisms.Governance of networks is needed to ensure the safety of personal data.Before modern statesdeveloped, no safety on roads or city streets could be guaranteed and physical integrity was atrisk.Nowadays, despite dominating everyday life, information highways are not secure.Integrity of digital data must be secured, against criminals of course but also against possibleabuse of power by state authorities or contractors and private companies under secret judicialwarrants.LIBE Committee Inquiry RecommendationsMany of the problems raised today are extremely similar to those revealed by the EuropeanParliament Inquiry on the Echelon programme in 2001.The impossibility for the previouslegislature to follow up on the findings and recommendations of the Echelon Inquiry shouldserve as a key lesson to this Inquiry.It is for this reason that this Resolution, recognising bothPR\1014703EN.doc 39/52 PE526.085v02-00ENthe magnitude of the revelations involved and their ongoing nature, is forward planning andensures that there are specific proposals on the table for follow up action in the nextParliamentary mandate ensuring the findings remain high on the EU political agenda.Based on this assessment, the rapporteur would like to submit to the vote of the Parliament thefollowing measures:A European Digital Habeas corpus for protecting privacy based on 7 actions:Action 1: Adopt the Data Protection Package in 2014;Action 2: Conclude the EU-US Umbrella agreement ensuring proper redressmechanisms for EU citizens in case of data transfers from the EU to the US for law-enforcement purposes;Action 3: Suspend Safe Harbour until a full review is conducted and currentloopholes are remedied making sure that transfers of personal data for commercialpurposes from the Union to the US can only take place in compliance with EUhighest standards;Action 4: Suspend the TFTP agreement until i) the Umbrella agreementnegotiations have been concluded; ii) a thorough investigation has been concludedbased on EU analysis and all concerns raised by the Parliament in its resolution of23 October have been properly addressed;Action 5: Protect the rule of law and the fundamental rights of EU citizens, with aparticular focus on threats to the freedom of the press and professionalconfidentiality (including lawyer-client relations) as well as enhanced protection forwhistleblowers;Action 6: Develop a European strategy for IT independence (at national and EUlevel);Action 7: Develop the EU as a reference player for a democratic and neutralgovernance of Internet;After the conclusion of the Inquiry the European Parliament should continue acting as EUcitizens rights watchdog with the following timetable to monitor implementations:" April-July 2014: a monitoring group based on the LIBE Inquiry teamresponsible for monitoring any new revelations in the media concerning theInquiries mandate and scrutinising the implementation of this resolution;" July 2014 onwards: a standing oversight mechanism for data transfers andjudicial remedies within the competent committee;" Spring 2014: a formal call on the European Council to include the EuropeanDigital Habeas Corpus in the guidelines to be adopted under Article 68 TFEU;PE526.085v02-00 40/52 PR\1014703EN.docEN" Autumn 2014: a commitment that the European Digital Habeas Corpus andrelated recommendations will serve as key criteria for the approval of the nextCommission;" 2014-2015: a Trust/Data/Citizens rights group to be convened on a regularbasis between the European Parliament and the US Congress as well as withother committed third-country parliaments including Brazil;" 2014-2015: a conference with European intelligence oversight bodies ofEuropean national parliaments;" 2015: a conference gathering high-level European experts in the various fieldsconducive to IT security (including mathematics, cryptography, privacyenhancing technologies, & ) to help foster an EU IT strategy for the nextlegislature;PR\1014703EN.doc 41/52 PE526 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]