EU plans to block child pornography sites attacked by rights group

European Digital Rights say proposals are a 'replacement for real action' and threaten net neutrality

European Parliament members met on Monday to review a report outlining how EU member states should block web sites containing child pornography.

The report was prepared by Italian MEP Roberta Angelilli. In it she writes:

"Member states shall take the necessary measures to obtain the removal at source of the web page containing or disseminating child pornography.

"In addition, in order to protect the best interests of the child, member states may set up procedures to block access by internet users in their territory to internet pages containing or disseminating child pornography in accordance with national law.

"The blocking of access shall be subject to adequate safeguards, in particular to ensure that the blocking is limited to what is necessary, that users are informed of the reason for the blocking and that content providers, as far as possible, are informed of the possibility of challenging it."

Angelilli's proposals have been met with criticism by the European Digital Rights group, which argues that blocking certain web sites will lead to further restrictive measures of this kind affecting other online enterprises.

It has released a document entitled Internet Blocking: Crimes should be punished and not hidden, which states:

"We must avoid policies which give member states the opportunity to adopt cosmetic measures that we have already seen being used as a replacement for real action. Evidence from countries that have imposed blocking proves conclusively that this policy is employed as a replacement for real international action and is not applied as a complementary measure."

The document argues that the proposals risk:

• weakening the political pressure on Member States to take real, effective, international action;

• undermining the EU's credibility when addressing restrictions on communications in repressive regimes;

• causing "mission creep" as the pressure inevitably grows - particularly in response to media headlines - to spread blocking measures into an increasing number of areas;

• bringing an end to the neutrality of the internet as ISPs are forced to invest in technologies that can discriminate in increasingly invasive means of sorting different types of content.

MEPs have until 20 January to propose any amendments, and a final vote will be held on 3 February.