[pp.int.general] European citizens' Initiative - ID requirement & data retention

[Pat Mächler]

Unfortunately the thing is a bit more complicated than you present it
and I would all pirates urge to read this mail carefully, before go
into action mode in a blind-folded mind.

The ECI - as it is currently regulated - could likely become either a
stillbirth or even a tool that might be used against our ideals; as
much as a "good implementation" of sth like the ECI on EU level would
be in pressing need.
The problem starts by as EU member states hold the sole power to hand
in these petitions and are free to implement the verification process
to their willing; there is no safe-guard yet!
e.g. in NL the ministry of economical affairs is doing the
implementation and is going to ask some NGO (!) to arrange the
verification process.
This is just a great tool for political abuse for foreign, national
and/or corporate power-play interests, instead of interests of common
European citizens.
I'm not making this up; we've just seen that Spain has been subject to
pressure by the US when it came to the Sinde law, as well as Sweden
was once.
So before advertising the ECI we should ensure that the verification
process is indeed more due to integer verification and not just up to
some random institution in a member state.

Furthermore concerning the ID number usage:
You see...one can criticize the use of the ID number, but you need
some sort of verification if a citizen's initiative should be
something more than just a random internet petition in order to proof
that signatures are +/- legit, not something that was just setup for
power-play interests; it does not need to be the ID number
(Switzerland uses birth dates and the place of residence, besides the
name), but there's hardly any use for an initiative where signatures
can't be verified to a certain extent.

Please read the current EU regulations on the ECI and make them
subject to careful dissection of what would be needed to prevent
power-play abuse.

-pat

On Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 10:15 PM, Jerry Weyer
<jerry.weyer at piratepartei.lu> wrote:
> Dear Pirates,
>
> I'd like to make you aware of an important topic: the European citizens'
> initiative (ECI). On April 1st 2011 the first ECIs can be deposited with the
> EU Commission. If at least 1 Million citizens of more than 6 EU countries
> sign an initiative the Commission has to take it into consideration. While
> the initiative itself is not binding on the Commission is sends a strong
> sign that EU citizens want a change in policy that cannon be ignored by the
> Commission. At the very least the ECI will increase political discussions
> cross-border EU wide, which is always a good thing. More info on the ICE
> here: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/citizens_initiative/
>
> Why I write to you is because some countries plan to force ECI supporters to
> provide an ID number when signing an initiative. The danger of requiring an
> ID card number when signing a petition is that a lot of potential supporters
> are scared off. Even more important is that it might limit the people who
> can collect signatures as the collection and storage of ID card numbers
> might be regulated by national data protection laws. Therefore I urge every
> Pirate Party and interested person to lobby their governments to delete the
> requirements of an ID number if that is still possible.
>
> Then I wanted to ask if any Pirate Party in the EU already planned an ECI or
> supported a group that does. Imo an ECI to stop the data retention directive
> has real chances to succeed and Pirates could play an important role in
> collecting signatures. If you plan anything in this direction please let me
> know as I'm currently contacting NGOs on this topic to work on an ECI.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Jerry
>
>
> ____________________________________________________
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