Proposed EU Internet Filtering Condemned by Civil Liberties Groups

A meeting held in February by a working party of the European Union has gained widespread criticism after minutes from the meeting, published this week, revealed plans for a "single secure European cyberspace."

The plans were proposed by the Law Enforcement Working Party (LEWP), which discusses and promotes cooperation on issues such as counterterrorism and fraud. The LEWP discussed plans to create a "virtual Schengen border" to block content deemed "illicit" from outside the area, although there has been no discussion on what content would be considered illicit or how the measures would be enforced.

Civil rights groups have deemed the plan an "absurd" and "illegitimate suggestion," drawing parallels to China's extensive censorship measures. Similar plans have been proposed in Australia, where IT minister Stephen Conroy admitted that there was a justifiable concern over the possibility of "mission creep," resulting in the filtering of legal content. Jim Killock, executive director of the UK-based Open Rights Group, believes the plans could lead to censorship, create market barriers, and result in civil liberties abuses.

Other critics believe that implementation of the measures would be impractical and ineffective, citing the Chinese use of proxies to circumvent filtering. One critic said, "despite all of the costs in terms of democracy, freedom of speech and even the economy, there is no analysis of any benefit or expected benefit that [...] outweigh the cost." No plans have been made to further discuss the measures.