A ‘confidential / not for publication / limited distribution’ document produced by the CleanIT project which may be shared, even internally, only on “a ‘need to know’ basis”, has been leaked by the European Digital Rights group. EDRi claims that the document “shows just how far internal discussions in that initiative have drifted away from its publicly stated aims, as well as the most fundamental legal rules that underpin European democracy and the rule of law.”
The Clean IT project, funded by the EU and hosted at the Ministry of Security and Justice in the Netherlands, claims its purpose is to restrict the ability of terrorists to use the internet “without affecting our online freedom.” It adds, with some irony given this document, “Therefore this project is based on a public-private dialogue.”
EDRi claims that the Clean IT Project – detailed recommendations document for best practices and permanent dialogue document shows that “the initiative has become little more than a protection racket (use filtering or be held liable for terrorist offenses) for the online security industry.” It gives examples of the absurdity that such attempts can reach. One of the recommendations is that terms of service ‘should not be very detailed.’ “This already widespread approach,” says EDRi, “results, for example, in Microsoft (as a wholly typical example of current industry practice) having terms of service that would ban pictures of the always trouserless Donald Duck as potential pornography (‘depicts nudity of any sort ... in non-human forms such as cartoons’).”
But the absurdity, claims EDRi, gets worse. The project proposes that service providers terms of service should allow them to remove content ‘which is fully legal.’ “In other words, if Donald Duck is displeasing to the police, they would welcome, but don't explicitly demand, ISPs banning his behavior in their terms of service.”
Some of the measures being proposed in this document are more worrying. “Law enforcement authorities should be able to have content removed ‘without following the more labour-intensive and formal procedures for notice and action’,” and “Governments should use the helpfulness of ISPs as a criterion for awarding public contracts” says EDRi in a list of more than a dozen proposals.
The Clean IT document, says EDRi, “is distributed to participants on a ‘need to know’ basis – we are sharing the document because citizens need to know what is being proposed.”