[tor-talk] answers of Ms Kroes on EP questions

[Rejo Zenger]

Hi,

Ms. Kroes has answered the parliamentary questions on blocking access to the users of Tor to the website of the European Commission. 

The questions were:

The Commission is blocking access to its website for users of TOR (The Onion Router). TOR is a technology that enables people to surf the web anonymously. It has become increasingly popular since it played a role in facilitating the Arab Spring movement.

1. Why is the Commission partially censoring Internet access to its site whilst at the same time it is conducting a public consultation on net neutrality?

2. What compromise does the Commission propose between, on the one hand, the goal of transparency that it is pursuing in terms of traffic management and, on the other, respect for anonymity and data protection as advocated by TOR?

The answer of ms. Kroes:

The Commission is committed to maintaining the open and neutral character of the Internet. At the same time the Commission strictly respects the legislation on the protection of personal data. The Commission's public consultation on ‘specific aspects of transparency, traffic management and switching in an Open Internet’ is open to everyone. The Commission understands and respects that citizens may prefer to stay anonymous when accessing websites hosted on Europa.

Nevertheless, the Commission has the duty to take all the necessary measures to ensure a high rate of availability of its websites for all citizens. The Commission therefore needs to ensure the reliability and security of its networks and websites (and those it manages for other institutions) against (cyber-)attacks. In this context the Commission takes all the measures deemed necessary to mitigate risks and counteract attacks that occur, taking account of the technical specificities of the latter.

Personal data of respondents to the Commission's public consultation is strictly protected in line with EU data protection legislation. For transparency purposes the responses to the public consultation questionnaire will be published. However, all respondents have the possibility to indicate after each question, whether their response contains confidential information. If the respondent mentions that the answer is confidential, it will not be published.

See also: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=WQ&reference=E-2012-007574&language=EN



-- 
Rejo Zenger . <rejo at zenger.nl> . 0x21DBEFD4 . <https://rejo.zenger.nl>
GPG encrypted e-mail preferred . +31.6.39642738 . @rejozenger

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