I'm sad to say it looks as though we've been shafted.
There are currently
very few sources to be found, and the articles on secuobs are almost unreadable the way they are worded, but it looks as though a prediction made
in the Guardian a few days ago has come true.
Quote:
It looked like European parliament was making a genuine stand for citizens' rights.
But, over the last few days, as negotiations proceed between the parliament and council – the member states – disturbing news of a cave-in has started to emerge. First, an analysis was leaked from parliament's legal service supporting the council's position, and rubbishing their own, seemingly in order to pave the way for a capitulation.
Now, support is being given by parliament's negotiators for a proposed "compromise" amendment 138, which threatens to give EU citizens no protection at all. The new amendment says that a member state may determine:
Appropriate procedural safeguards assuring due process. This may include requirements of a judicial decision authorising the measures to be taken and may take account of the need to adopt urgent measures in order to assure national security, defence, public security, and the prevention, investigation, detection, and prosecution of criminal offences. In other words, member states can do what they like, and disconnect or restrict whoever they like, on more or less any "urgent" law-and-order grounds they define, no matter how trivial the offence.
This likely capitulation by EU parliamentarians is very serious: not just for online citizens, who will find their ability to enforce their rights much more difficult, but for anyone looking to the parliament to protect their rights in the future.
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