In the 800^th anniversary  year of Magna Carta, what of our free speech rights?

As we begin 2015, let’s remind ourselves that this year is the 800^th anniversary of Magna Carta – the Great Charter that first established rights and on which later charters of human rights have been built.  In 2015, we are seeing more and more threats to those hard won rights by various interest groups (corporate and non-corporate) who want to block and take control of our communications systems that have been established over the Internet in the past two decades or so.  It does look like 2015 is going to be critical year for the protection of those rights.

Read more: Network consolidation, counter-terrorism, Sony hack – Internet policy game-changers for 2015?

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression  backs up the European Parliament's position on the Telecoms Package which calls for due process where Internet freedom of expression is to be restricted.

A United Nations report released today has a stern message for democratic governments that want to impose meaures to restrict the Internet. He says that restrictions applied to the  Internet must be limited to issues such as public security, and that cutting off access - for copyright enforcement or any other reason -  is a disproporationate measure. Singled out for special reprimand are the UK's Digital Economy Act and France's Hadopi law, which the report considers ‘alarming'.

The report is entitled Report of the Special Rapporteur on the   promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue.  It addresses freedom of expression on the Internet from a global perspective. What's interesting is that it does not just focus on autocratic regimes and dictatorships that restrict political speech. Instead, it widens the brief to  investigate other restrictions imposed by liberal  democracies, including those in the European Union. 

The UN report is concerned about liability for content being

Read more: UN report says freedom of expression trumps copyright

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), Peter Hustinx, has today  issued a call for radical changes to the directive which mandates ISPs and phone companies to store users' traffic data.

In a public statement, he says that the Data Retention directive does not meet the requirements imposed by the  rights to privacy and data protection, both of which are guaranteed as fundamental rights under EU law. 

Mr Hustinx was commenting on a report by the European Commission, released in April,  which evaluates the implementation of the directive.  Whilst he understands that retained traffic data is sometimes needed, for example, in criminal investigations, he  says

Read more: EU privacy chief slams data retention directive