Het Europees Parlement heeft zich op 14 februari 2011 uitgesproken tegen Europa-brede verplichte internetblokkades. Na hevige tegendruk van partijen zoals Bits of Freedom heeft het parlement besloten dat lidstaten zelf mogen bepalen of ze dit soort internetblokkades invoeren.

De regelgeving waarover het parlement onderhandelde gaat over de bestrijding van seksueel kindermisbruik. De Europese Commissie wilde dat lidstaten maatregelen zouden nemen om websites met afbeeldingen van seksueel kindermisbruik te te blokkeren. Maar dat is gevaarlijke symboolpolitiek, want hierdoor blijven de afbeeldingen gewoon online staan; ze worden immers slechts verborgen in plaats van verwijderd (PDF). Bits of Freedom vindt: de afbeeldingen moeten juist worden verwijderd van het internet en de verspreiders moeten worden gestraft.

Die boodschap is aangekomen. De commissie burgerlijke vrijheden van het Europees Parlement heeft nu aan de Europese Commissie duidelijk gemaakt dat ook zij dit een vorm van symboolpolitiek vindt. Zij heeft een tekst aangenomen waarin verplichte EU-brede internetblokkades worden afgewezen. Tegelijkertijd heeft zij lidstaten helaas wel de ruimte gelaten om uit eigen initiatief zwarte lijsten te verplichten, dus er is nog ruimte voor verbetering.

Maar dat komt later: we willen nu iedereen die campagne heeft gevoerd tegen internetblokkades bedanken. Dit is een grote overwinning voor internetvrijheid. De Europese koepelorganisatie voor digitale rechten EDRi en de vereniging van slachtoffers van kindermisbruik MOGiS hebben hard gelobbied om dit voorstel van tafel te krijgen. In Nederland heeft onze vrijwilliger CtrlSpatie zich ingespannen om parlementariërs uit te leggen waarom internetblokkades niet wenselijk zijn. Ook wij hebben  campagne gevoerd.

De tekst waarover overeenstemming is bereikt luidt als volgt:

Article 21. Measures addressing websites containing or disseminating child pornography or child abuse material

1. Member States shall take the necessary legislative measures to obtain the removal at source of Internet pages containing or disseminating child pornography or child abuse material. Internet pages containing such material shall be removed, especially when originating from an EU Member State. In addition, the EU shall cooperate with third countries in securing the prompt removal of such content from servers in their territory.

2. When removal at source of Internet pages containing or disseminating child pornography or child abuse material is impossible to achieve, Member States may take the necessary measures in accordance with national legislation to prevent access to such content in their territory. These measures must be set by transparent procedures and provide adequate safeguards, in particular to ensure that the restriction is limited to what is necessary and proportionate, and that users are informed of the reason for the restriction. Content providers and users shall be informed of the possibility to whom to appeal under a judicial redress procedure.

2a. Any measure under paragraphs 1 and 2 shall respect fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons, as guaranteed by the European Convention of the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and general principles of Union law. Those measures shall provide for prior authorisation in accordance with national law, and the right to an effective and timely judicial redress.

2b. The European Commission shall submit to the European Parliament an annual report on the activities undertaken by Member States to remove child sexual abuse material from Internet pages.

Recital 13

(13) Child pornography, which constitutes child abuse material, is a specific type of content which cannot be construed as the expression of an opinion. To combat it, it is necessary to ensure as quickly as possible the full removal at source of Internet pages containing or disseminating child pornography or child abuse material and to identify the offenders to start procedures against them, as the investigation and prosecution of such crimes should be a priority. Any webpage originating from an EU Member State and containing sexual abuse material of children should be removed. The EU, in particular through increased cooperation with third countries and international organisations and with the help of bilateral or multilateral agreements, should seek to facilitate the effective removal by third country authorities of websites containing child pornography or child abuse material, which are hosted in their territory, as well as concurrent criminal prosecution of persons who placed such content on or distributed it over the internet. In that regard international cooperation between judicial and police authorities should be strengthened and reporting points put in place. However, should despite such efforts the removal at source of Internet pages containing or disseminating child pornography or child abuse material prove impossible to achieve where the original materials are not located within the EU,either because the State where the servers are hosted is not willing to cooperate or because the procedure for removal of the material in the State concerned proves to be particularly long, Member States may take the necessary measures in accordance with national legislation to prevent access to such content in their territory. There should be strengthened cooperation between public authorities, particularly in the interest of ensuring that information regarding websites containing child pornographyor child abuse material is as complete as possible and of avoiding duplication of work. Any suchmeasure must be in accordance with national legislation, respect the rights of the end users, adhere to legal and judicial procedures and comply with the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The Safer Internet Programme has set up a network of hotlines whose goal is to collect information and to ensure coverage and exchange of reports on the major types of illegal content online.