Ok, the agreement passed the European Council thus it is believed to be signed. But Netzpolitik.org has more information on this and disseminates the news, that the agreement wasn’t actually signed which makes up for most of the confusion.
Personally I’m trying to gather more information on the subject in cooperation with international pirate parties in order to be able to make informed decisions and we are trying to write a common press release concerning the agreement and its predecessors.
If you want to help, feel free to drop me a mail or leave a comment I will tell you where.
This post is based on a press release by the pirate party Germany, I will only present the main thoughts and the interested reader may read the original in German. [1]
Apparently the EU-commission and especially the commissar for the Interior Jacques Barrot are trying to push the planned SWIFT agreement [2] through the institutions by using uncommon methods. This agreement should allow US-agencies further access to transaction data of foreign based banks. Some EU-states already voiced their concerns about the agreement, but the commission seems willing to continue the process of signing such an agreement. netzpolitik.org recently published a document [2-3] that shows how the commission tries to convince those member states to ignore their concerns and agree on the draft. It is no wonder that they are accelerating the process, because from December 1st on the parliament, with its new powers due to the Lisbon treaty, will have a right to veto such agreements.
Last week Mr. Halsdorf, Minister of the Interior, declared, that the surveillance in Luxembourg was being extended to one more zone on the “route d’Arlon” and that the surveillance system Visupol was being re-conducted for one more year. Almost every youth organization of the national parties and the pirate party reacted to this statement by issuing press releases and the member of parliament of “déi Lénk” André Hoffmann even asked Mr. Halsdorf via “question parlementaire” if there were no irregularities an unconformities with the law regarding an extension and re-conduction of the Visupol system.
It seems to limit you; when you’re working in an office, you’re a creature in a small cell under somebody’s supervision and surveillance.
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Jack Vance
Chef der HVA (Stasi-Auslandsaufklärung) über Videoüberwachung: Also das hat ja früher nicht gegeben, und das kann man auch nicht mit dem Kampf gegen den Terrorismus begründen.
Pirated and own thoughts about Luxembourg, pirate politics and the world.
