Tag: eu

E.U. Censorship Laws Mostly Suppress Legal Speech

Among those who think the United States is an unseemly cesspool of unrestrained opinions voiced by those people, Europe is often touted as an alternative for speech regulation. European Union law, following in the footsteps of national legislation, imposes enforceable duties on private platforms to purge “hate speech” and “disinformation”—or else. But free speech advocates warn that these laws are clumsy and dangerous tools that threaten to muzzle expression far beyond the bounds of their nominal targets. They’re right, and they now have receipts.

In a new report, Preventing “Torrents of Hate” or Stifling Free Expression Online?, The Future of Free Speech, a think tank based at Vanderbilt University, points out that online regulation changed in 2017 with Germany’s adoption of the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG), “which aimed to combat illegal online content such as defamation, incitement, and religious insults.” That law inspired lawmakers around the world, as well as similar E.U.-wide legislation in 2022 in the Digital Services Act (DSA). “The underlying assumptions surrounding the passage of the DSA included fears that the Internet and social media platforms would become overrun with hate and illegal content,” notes the report.

But “hate” and other forms of unacceptable content are often in the eyes of the beholder. And the power to punish platforms for allowing forbidden speech encourages suppressing content.

The DSA “gives way too much power to government agencies to flag and remove potentially illegal content and to uncover data about anonymous speakers,” cautioned the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 2022.

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EU applicant wants to ban ‘LGBTQ movement’

The speaker of the Georgian parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, has announced a sweeping initiative aimed at protecting traditional family values, in a move branded by critics as another Russia-inspired crackdown.

The set of proposals includes a ban on gay marriage and the adoption of minors by homosexual couples. In addition, the ruling Georgian Dream party seeks to ban LGBTQ and incest propaganda aimed at minors, and to prohibit broadcasters and advertisers from airing intimate same-sex scenes. Reassignment surgery and changing gender in official documents would also be banned under the proposals.

“Today, the parliamentary majority is initiating a package of bills on Family Values and Protection of Minors, which consists of one main bill… and 18 related bills that amend various laws, civil code, labor code, education legislation and so on,” Papuashvili said at a government briefing on Tuesday.

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The EU is on the Brink off Making “Hate Speech” a Serious Crime

The EU’s European Commission (EC) appears to be preparing to include “hate speech” among the list of most serious criminal offenses and regulate its investigation and prosecution across the bloc.

Whether this type of proposal is cropping up now because of the upcoming EU elections or if the initiative has legs will become obvious in time, but for now, the plans are supported by several EC commissioners.

The idea stems from the European Citizens’ Panel on Tackling Hatred in Society, one of several panels (ECPs) established to help EC President Ursula von der Leyen with her (campaign?) promise of ushering in a democracy in the EU that is “fit for the future.”

That could mean anything, and the vagueness by no means stops there: the very “hate speech,” despite the gravity of the proposals to classify it as a serious crime, is not even well defined, observers are warning.

Despite that, the recommendations contained in a report produced by the panel have been backed by EC’s Vice-President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova as well as Vice President for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Suica.

According to Jourova, the panel’s recommendations on how to deal with “hate speech” are “clear and ambitious” – although, as noted, a clear definition of that type of speech is still be lacking.

This is the wording the report went for: any speech that is “incompatible with the values of human dignity, freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and respect of human rights” should be considered as “hate speech.”

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European Council Approves the AI Act — a Law Accused of Legalizing Biometric Mass Surveillance

The EU’s European Council has followed the European Parliament (EP) in approving the AI Act – which opponents say is a way for the bloc to legalize biometric mass surveillance.

More than that, the EU is touting the legislation as first of its kind in the world, and seems hopeful it will serve as a standard for AI regulation elsewhere around the globe.

The Council announced the law is “groundbreaking,” taking a “risk-based” approach, meaning that the EU authorities get to grade the level of risk from AI to society and then impose rules of various levels of severity and penalties, including money fines for companies deemed to be infringing the act.

What this “granular” approach to “risk level” looks like is revealed in the fact that what the EU chooses to consider cognitive behavioral manipulation “unacceptable,” while AI use in education and facial recognition is “high risk. “Limited risk” applies to chatbots.

And developers will be under obligation to register in order to have the “risk” assessed before their apps become available to users in the EU.

The AI Act’s ambition, according to the EU, is to promote both the development and uptake, as well as investment in systems that it considers “safe and trustworthy,” targeting both private and public sectors for this type of regulation.

A press release said that the law “provides exemptions such as for systems used exclusively for military and defense as well as for research purposes.”

After the act is formally published, it will within three weeks come into effect across the 27-member countries.

Back in March, when the European Parliament approved the act, one of its members, Patrick Breyer of the German Pirate Party, slammed the preceding trilogue negotiations as “intransparent.”

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Time for outrage over Israel’s meddling in European affairs

Lobbying for Israel can be lucrative.

David Siegel heads the organization called Friends of the European Leadership Network. He commands an annual salary exceeding $350,000.

Over the past few days, Siegel has been thanking those Western politicians who are willing to criticize the International Criminal Court after its chief prosecutor sought warrants for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, Israel’s prime minister and defense minister, as well as leading players in Hamas. Outrage at the ICC’s move is proof of “moral clarity,” Siegel has contended.

Siegel has spent most of his career working for the Israeli government and the lobby which backs it up. Before taking up his current position, he was Israel’s top representative in the southwestern United States (a region that includes California, Arizona, Colorado and Hawaii).

Friends of the European Leadership Network – based in Skokie, a Chicago suburb – helps marshal elite support for Israel.

According to a “transparency register” run by the Brussels bureaucracy, Siegel’s outfit finances almost the entire budget of the European Leadership Network (Elnet), a key pro-Israel group.

It is no accident that Elnet is funded primarily from the US. For years, Elnet has copied the modus operandi of the Israeli lobby across the Atlantic.

A core activity has been buying influence from lawmakers and other establishment figures by bringing them on expenses-paid propaganda trips.

More than 20 such visits to the Middle East have been organized by Elnet since Israel began its genocidal war against Gaza in October.

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EU Investigates Meta in Crackdown on Alleged “Rabbit Hole” Effects, Wants It To Push Digital ID

There was a lot of talk about the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) while it was drafted and during the typical-of-the-bloc tortuous process of adoption, but now that it’s been here for a while, we’ve been getting a sense of how it is being put to use.

Utilizing the European digital ID wallet to carry out age verification is just one of the fever pitch ideas here. And EU bureaucrats are trying to make sure that these controversial policies are presented as perfectly in line with how DSA was originally pitched.

The regulation was slammed by opponents as in reality a sweeping online censorship law hiding behind focused, and noble, declarations that its goal was to protect children’s well-being, fight disinformation, etc.

The cold hard reality is that trying to (further) turn the screw – any which way they can – on platforms with the most reach and most influence ahead of an election is simply something that those in power, whether it’s the US or the EU, don’t seem to be able to resist.

Here’s the European Commission (who’s current president is actively campaigning to get reappointed in the wake of next month’s European Parliament elections) opening an investigation into Meta on suspicion its flagship platforms, Facebook and Instagram, create “addictive behavior among children and damage mental health.”

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Another Damning EU Vaccine Safety Report

Part 1 of my analysis of the Periodic Safety Update Report #3 (PSUR #3) for the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 mRNA vaccine, covering the 6-month period of 19 December 2021 through to 18 June 2022, focused on the disturbing pregnancy and lactation cases. Part 2 of the report focuses on the tragic child deaths. 

Firstly, a comparative look at the data in PSUR #3 revealed similar findings in 1st PSUR, apart from a significant 55% increase in the number of case reports and a 36% increase in the number of adverse events recorded. The following similarities were found in both sets of data: three times the number of cases were reported for women; the age group most affected was for 31-50-year-olds; one-third of all cases were classified as serious and a significantly high percentage of cases were classified with outcomes as either unknown or not recovered. 

An Overview of the Data

  • 508,351 cases (individuals) suffering from 1,597,673 adverse events
  • Three times the number of cases were reported for women than men
  • 1/3 of all cases were classified as serious
  • 3,280 deaths reported 
  • 60% of cases were reported with either outcome unknown or not recovered
  • 92% of cases did not have any comorbidities
  • Highest number of cases occurred in the 31-50 year age group
  • Germany had the highest recorded number of cases (22.5% of all reported worldwide 
  • cases)

Germany had the highest number of recorded cases, a total of 114,573, which accounted for 22.5% of all worldwide cases for that 6-month period. It is worth noting that from December 2020 through to June 2022, a staggering 323,684 individual reports of suspected Covid-19 vaccine side effects were received by The Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, an Agency of the German Federal Ministry of Health. Yet, despite this large number, Karl Lauterbach, Germany’s Minister for Health, known for his pro-lockdown and pro-vaccine stance, made the unsubstantiated claim that the “vaccine was without side effects” in August 2021.

However, earlier this year, Lauterbach made a surprising U-turn in a TV interview, where he stated, “These unfortunate cases [of Covid-19 vaccine adverse effects] are heart-breaking and every victim is one too many…” Only recently, the first lawsuit against BioNTech was filed in Germany, by the law firm, Rogert and Ulbrich, with the plaintiff seeking damages due to an injury, allegedly caused by the German vaccine manufacturer’s mRNA product. 

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Pentagon Chief Engaged In Pressuring EU Countries To Give Up Their Patriot Systems

America’s top defense official is engaged in efforts to pressure European countries to give up their own US-made anti-air defenses for Ukraine.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday he’s been actively encouraging countries to donate their Patriot missile systems to Ukraine. “There are countries that have Patriots, and so what we’re doing is continuing to engage those countries,” Austin testified before a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

“I have talked to the leaders of several countries… myself here in the last two weeks, encouraging them to give up more capability or provide more capability,” he said.

Last Friday Austin announced that as part of a massive new $6 billion aid package for Kiev, the US will provide additional Patriot missiles. This is part of the first approved roll-out in the wake of Biden signing into effect the $61 billion in defense funding for Ukraine belatedly approved by Congress this month.

President Zelensky and his top officials have been essentially begging for more Patriots as Russia continues pummeling its cities and infrastructure. 

A Ukrainian outlet has quoted Zelensky as ramping up the pressure on his backers in NATO:

“Regarding the number of missiles to Patriots, we really expect a positive result in this regard. Thank God that after we convened the Ukraine-NATO Council, we received an assurance that there will be no delays in the process (of supplying missiles to the Patriot systems – ed.), Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Earlier this month a disturbing report by Financial Times identified Greece and Spain as being under the most pressure from Western allies to give up what few Patriot anti-air defense systems that they possess.

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Russian Journalist Calls Out The EU As A Technocracy

Lenin famously defined communism as Soviet power plus electrification of the whole country. In other words, the ideological project of building communism was supplemented by the technocratic project of electrification, the latter being an important source of legitimacy for the new regime.

The present-day European Union is engaged in its own expansive electrification project – the energy transition – that similarly inhabits ground where ideology meets technocracy and underpins legitimacy.

Yet in the past year or so, something has gone badly wrong, and a backlash against the climate agenda and its technocratic enforcers has been spreading across Europe. The energy crisis – far from catapulting the continent further along the path toward a carbon-neutral future as it should have – has exposed just how elusive the goal is, as Europe has scrambled to sign expensive LNG deals and even restart coal-fired plants. Farmers dissatisfied with EU policies that they regard as devastating to their livelihoods have been grumbling for years, but recently their protests have reached a crescendo, and built up political weight. Right-leaning and far-right parties, meanwhile, are gaining ground by the day. Standards of living are dropping and industry is shutting down or moving elsewhere.

Discontent with suffocating bureaucracy and regulation is widespread. A recent survey among German small and medium-sized companies – has registered a massive shift in sentiment against the EU. This is particularly concerning because the so-called German Mittelstand used to be among the strongest pillars of support for European integration.

What is embroiling Europe is deeper than a political crisis – it is approaching what can be called a crisis of legitimacy for the ruling elite. This can be thought of as a metaphysical event that precedes political upheaval, the latter being merely confirmation that such a crisis has taken place. Legitimacy is, of course, a rather nebulous concept, and it defies objective measurement.

Ruling classes throughout history have always advanced various claims about their own legitimacy, without which a stable political order is impossible. In tracing the contours of the current crisis, it’s important to establish what exactly the claims Europe’s technocratic elite have put forth and how they are becoming increasingly difficult to believe.

Ostensibly, the EU’s ruling elite has staked out the green transition as its raison d’être. They claim to have the mandate, vision and competence to see it through and have set clear targets to measure their success.

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Privacy Under Siege: Europol and the UK Crime Agency Target Encryption, Call For Backdoors

What is best known as the “politicization of institutions” in authoritarian societies is these days making a creeping but steady progress in some countries/blocs one would not have suspected of such things until relatively recently.

Here we have Europol (EU’s law enforcement agency) and the supposedly “divested” from the EU shenanigans via Brexit UK – but is it really? – and that country’s National Crime Agency (NCA), teaming up to attack Meta for dozens and dozens of reasonable reasons, but for the one thing the company is apparently trying to do right.

Read the joint declaration here.

And that’s implementing in its products end-to-end encryption (E2EE), the very, necessary, irreplaceable software backbone of a safe and secure internet for everybody. Yet that is what many governments, and here we see the EU via Europol, and the UK, keep attempting to damage.

But mass surveillance is a hard sell, so the established pitch is to link the global and overall internet problem, to that of the safety of children online, and justify it that way.

The Europol executive director, Catherine De Bolle, compared E2EE to “sending your child into a room full of strangers and locking the door.”

And yet, the technological truth and reality of the situation is that undermining E2EE is akin to giving the key to your front door and access to everybody in it, children included, to somebody you “trust” (say, governments and organizations who like you to take their trustworthiness for granted).

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