perlmonger: (revolting)
I'm assuming (I hope with justification) that any EU citizen reading this has already been in touch with their MEPs about the impending amendments to the Telecoms Package.

FWIW, here's my base email (I amended it slightly depending on to whom it was addressed):
I am writing to you as a constituent asking you to exert whatever influence you have with members of the IMCO and IMTR committees of the European Parliament to vote against amendments 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 that have been introduced into the Telecoms package.

These amendments were introduced under the influence of industry lobbyists whose interests are in the attempted maintenance of obsolete business models that have become unsustainable; they are a stealth attempt to subvert earlier rejection by Parliament of explicit legislation to the same ends. The proposed measures are disproportionate, unworkable in practice, violate privacy and personal data security and would lead to entire families being denied access to the internet through the presumed guilt of one member.

The committees are scheduled to vote on this package tomorrow, 7th July, and I urge you to do what you can to have these amendments rejected and, failing that, to vote against the package yourself should it be presented for a vote by the Parliament as a whole.

I apologise for the lateness of this communication, but I only found out about this today myself: please do what you can to prevent these egregious measures being codified into European law and to ensure that the European Parliament continues to represent the interests of its electors, even where those conflict with the short-term advantage of multinational corporations and their lobbyists.
perlmonger: (no2id)
Home Office junior minister Andrew Burnham MP turned up in Bristol, at the Galleries this morning, as part of the stealth government biometric passport tour. "Stealth" because they don't announce their schedule and, indeed, refuse to release it if anyone has the temerity to enquire. NO2ID found out about it anyhow and let the non-innocent (like me) into the secret.

About a dozen of us turned up to present a viewpoint contrary to the database state, with two large banners that (with any luck) will show up on at least the local TV news tonight. More to the point, we failed to get the minister to answer any difficult questions (there's a surprise) and handed out leaflets to a largely receptive passing public - it was quite gratifying how many peoples' first reaction was to thrust yet-another-leaflet aside but who, on spotting the title, took it with genuine interest.

As to what happened to a selection of Bristol LibDem luminaries who promised to turn up and didn't, I know not. Eaten by proponents of Orange Book, perhaps.

ostrich

Sep. 19th, 2005 05:31 pm
perlmonger: (1984)
Courtesy [livejournal.com profile] codepope elsewhere comes the latest whizzo wheeze for club entry control. It's more of the same of course, and any venue that insists on anything like this won't get my patronage: I don't trust club owners, I don't trust who they'll sell the data to and I sure as fuck don't trust the gummint or its organs of security and enforcement.

Some of the comments attached to that link make the scariest reading though: it's the "I don't really care; I'm not doing anything wrong" attitude. Not that they don't care - it's their privacy and personal data after all; their business - it's that they don't care that other people care. It's not important to me, therefore it's not important. A charming and truly frightening attitude.

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perlmonger

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