The European Commission (EC) has hired a former German Federal Minister of Defence and of Economics and Technology, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, as an advisor to its "No Disconnect Strategy" that seeks to "resist any unjustified restrictions on the Internet and other new media".

The strategy often appears to be at odds with pro-copyright laws / trade agreements (e.g. ACTA) and "three-strikes" policies of broadband ISP suspension (e.g. UK Digital Economy Act). It also risks straying into the murky waters of Net Neutrality (i.e. the principal of treating all internet traffic as equal).

The appointment apparently forms "a key element" of work that is designed to uphold the EU's commitment to ensure human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected both online and off-line, and that the internet can remain a "driver of political freedom, democratic development and economic growth".



It's worth pointing towards the EC's inclusion of the word "unjustified", which is historically open to a wide variety of interpretations. Some countries try to justify shooting civilian protestors but that doesn't mean to say they're right.

The "No Disconnect Strategy" Seeks to Assist People in Four Ways

1. Developing and providing technological tools to enhance privacy and security of people living in non-democratic regimes when using ICT.

2. Educating and raising awareness of activists about the opportunities and risks of ICT. In particular assisting activists to make best use of tools such as social networks and blogs while raising awareness of surveillance risks when communicating via ICT.

3. Gathering high quality intelligence about what is happening "on the ground" in order to monitor the level of surveillance and censorship at a given time, in a given place.

4. Cooperation. Developing a practical way to ensure that all stakeholders can share information on their activity and promote multilateral action and building cross-regional cooperation to protect human rights.

In fairness the strategy has been designed to support Internet users, bloggers and cyber-activists whom are "living under authoritarian regimes". Indeed it's a good principal to follow but we should perhaps be ready to practice what we preach.

Internet censorship within Europe appears to get tougher ever year and many fear that in some places, such as France and possibly the UK, it might be going too far. The UK Internet Service Providers Association ( ISPA ) has welcomed the announcement but agrees that "domestic & foreign policy needs to be linked up to make it credible".