

Track EUPeople (after Exposing them to Virus Import): CoE+NGOs+Snowden warn v.Orwell Risk=>EU Frame?

*Strasbourg/Angelo Marcopolo/(Partly UpDated)- EU Citizens may soon face a Risky Paradox : After having been practicaly Abandoned, withOut Any Protection, vis a vis Massive Infections imported from NW Italy's initial Deadly Virus' Hotspot, since several EU Governments did Not Monitor at all the endangered Borders, (Contrary to what China succesfully did vis a vis its Wuhan Region, similar to Lombardy, which was Tightly Quarantined: See http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/delaytoprotecteupeoplefromvirus.html, etc), Now they are threatened to be ...themselves Monitored in their EveryDay Private Lives, Spied even on their Individual Movements and Contacts, Health condition, etc., under Pretext to limit a Further Spread of the Virus !
- Already, CoE Assembly's new President, Rik Daems from Belgium (Liberal), Warned, on this occasion, against a Risk to "Open the Door to an <<Orwellian>> Future of Constant Personal Surveillance, Following our Every Move, for UnKnown and UnAccountable Purposes", as he said in a Press Release just send to "Eurofora" by PACE's Press Service in Strasbourg, (See also Infra).
- Indeed, as independent Web Freedom Watchdog "Electronic Frontier Foundation" NGO cautioned, currently, "Governments around the World are demanding Extraordinary new Surveillnce Powers", allegedly "to fight the Virus", Urging also a Close Scrutiny on New Links between some Governments and certain Private Companies that popped up out of the Pandemic, (f.ex. Telephone Companies, Internet access Providers, SpyWare Manufactors, Social Medias Networks, etc).
+ In Addition, World Famous WhistleBlower Edward Snowden, who risked his Job and Freedom in order to Denounce a Global Massive Surveillance mecanism by Secret Services, (Comp. Snowden's Replies to "Eurofora" Questions earlier at: http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/snowdenfriendshelpwhistleblowers.html, http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/snowdenlaughonlongmuellerspyingtrump.html, etc) has just Warned that, even "Five years later the coronavirus is gone, this data's still available to them — they start looking for new things... They already know what you're Looking at on the Internet, they already know where your Phone is Moving, now they know what your Heart rate is" (f.ex. by Spying a "Fitness Tracker", etc). "What happens when they start to interMix these, and apply artificial intelligence to them ?"
- Yesterday, CoE's Rapporteur on WhistleBlowers, and vice-President of the French National Assembly, Sylvain Wasserman, from Strasbourg's area, (Comp. Earlier Replies by Wasserman to "Eurofora"s questions, f.ex., at: http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/whistleblowersineuandcoe.html, +http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/snowdenfriendshelpwhistleblowers.html, http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/coerapporteurforassangeprotection.html, etc), stressed that, as a matter of Principle, Nowadays "It is Vital we improve the Protection of Whistle-blowers both during and after the CoronaVirus Crisis". Because, "Times of Crisis show that we need them to Safeguard our fundamental Rights such as Freedom of Expression and Information, but we also need them to enable us to prepare for and manage such situations more effectively". Thus, inter alia, “Whistle-blowers can also Help to Prevent or Correct State Failures during the current Crisis. They are therefore an Essential cog in the wheel of our Democracies, and their Protection is a Measure of how Democratic we are".
=> In Consequence, Wasserman "fully Support(ed) the Initiative taken by NGOs to ...Improve the Protection of Whistle-Blowers ot only during the Crisis, but Also once it is behind us", including "Transarency International", the "European Federation of Journalists" and the "Media Development Center", "Government Accountability Project", the Universities of Griffith (Australia), Maastricht, Middlesex, Ryerson and Greenwich, "International Bar Association", "European Centre for Press and Media Freedom", "EuroCadres", "European Public Service Union", "European Organisation of Military Associations and Trade Unions", "Council of European Professional and Managerial Staff", "WhistleBlowing International Network", etc., who recently launched a "Coalition to make WhistleBlowing Safe, during COVID-19 and Beyond".
- "The signatories ... call(ed) on all public authorities and institutions to Protect those who Report or expose the Harms, Abuses and serious Wrongdoing that arise during this period of Crisis caused by the COVID19 Pandemic", and "encourage(d) all Citizens and Workers to participate in ensuring our Governments, Corporate institutions and markets remain Accountable, and in Defending the Human Rights and freedoms", as "the Need for regular and Reliable Information", as well as "the importance of Accountability" are Now "Brought into Stark Relief", since "Speak about Threats to Public Health and Safety, Corruption and other Abuses", added to "their Disclosures", "are Vital to Preventing Major Disasters and reducing the Impacts of the crisis ..., especially on the most Vulnerable members of society and our Democratic systems", particularly "when Decisions are taken in Emergency conditions, often Away from Democratic Scrutiny", since "the use of Extraordinary Powers by governments, withOut proper public Oversight and Transparency creates a tangible Risk of overreach and potential Misuse".
- Indeed, "we have Already seen examples of Wrongdoing and Mismanagement in our public Institutions, commercial Markets and Business as a result of COVID-19. Emerging areas of Concern include Health System Capacity and delivery" (f.ex. Masks, ICT, Ventilators, etc), "public Procurement, violations of health and safety and labor law, inequitable and ill-prepared global Supply chains, ... and significant Violations of personal Privacy rights at scale, through the Digital Tracking of individuals", the NGOs Denounced.
Already, f.ex., New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo notoriously called the CoronaVirus' Crisis as "Worse than 9/11" Massive Barbaric Killings of Thousands of innocent Civilian People, and everybody knows that this was soon Followed, in the recent Past, by various US Government's Exceptional Measures, including, particularly, on Mass and Individual Spying, (that many Criticized as Excessive), etc...
=> F.ex., in South Korea several massive attempts to Track Individuals, in relation to the Virus, through the GeoLocalisation of their Mobile Phones were reportedly made, including SMS Alerts for Contacts with Infected People, while in Taiwan Police is autiomaticaly alerted if Quarantined patients move Outside of their Homes, and from China come also Reports about Individual Mobile Codes being Tracked when Entering several Private Residences, Public Areas, Super Markets, Collective Gardens, etc, added to Singapore's SmartPhone App Tracking People who may have been Exposed.
- In Iran, the Government reportedly pushed Citizens to download an App available at Google's Play Store which registered their device, collEcting Contact and Location details, (but, when this was Denounced by a Researcher, Google removed that app, and the Iranian Government blamed the Officials responsible for that, ensuring the People that No Private Lines were crossed)...
- At the West, already in Poland citizens under Quarantine have to download a government App that mandates they respond to periodic requests for "Selfies". The UK Government is reportedly talking with Private Companies about Phone and Contacts Tracking, without being clear if this might concern Individuals who are Quarantined or Everybody, using Private Data or only Anonymized and Aggregated Data, Secretly or Openly. USA's Kansas Governor reportedly uses Phone Data of Infected People and GeoLocalisation, although it seems that those Data might, eventually, be Anonymised and Aggregated. Germany and some Other EU Countries are, in parallel, reportedly planning to use also Mobile Phone Data, but Only Anonymized and Aggregated for Maps. However, in Israel, a new Law has just allowed the Government to impose Mobile Phone Tracking of Infected People, and Alert those Contacting them, as well as to Enforce Quarantine Orders. But on Canada much Worse Concerns were expressed when controverial "Socialist" Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reportedly "did Not Exlude" that the Government might use telecom Data to Track all Canadians' compliance with Pandemic Measures in the foreseable future, (Expanding that issue, soon After French-speaking Quebec's Premier, Francois Legault, had recently spoken about Tracking past Movements of Infected People, by using their Phones). In France, President Macron is due to announce new Measures on Monday, and many consider that he may include also Mobile Phone's Data related to Massive Confinement, (as, Already, its Government reportedly Tested a relevant App, and the JHA Ministry has just Started to Invite People to Inform its Website about their planned individual Movements, by filling a special Form with their Mobile Phone Numbers and Personal Data, while promising that these won't be stored !)...
+ EU Commissioner in charge of the Common Market, Thierry Breton, from France, (UpDated), has just reportedly spoken about such possible Mobile Phone Tracking linked to the Virus throughout the EU, but vowed that it should be Not Linked to any "Sanctions", be "Voluntary", and used "Only by Health Authorities", under "Conditions" due to be determined asap. In Parallel, EU Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee's President, Juan Fernandez Lopez Aguilar, (a "Socialist" MEP from Spain), stressed that, at any case, "even in these Difficult Times, EU's basic Rules on Personal Data Protection and "E-Privacy" should remain in force and be respected".
=> It's in this Fast-Moving and Slipery-slope Context, that PanEuropean CoE Assembly's new President, Rik Daems, (a "Liberal" from Belgium : Comp. Supra), noted that, since "Until enough people have been Vaccinated against this CoronaVirus", (i.e. more than a Year Later, according to Technocrats, while Simple and Fast-Track eventual Treatments, as HCQ, are still Blocked f.ex. in France and elsehere), "we must Limit its Spread. ONE" (Not the Only) "Way is to Track-and-trace Infected people and those whom they Meet".
- "But this has Huge Privacy Implications and will Need very Careful Regulation to ensure respect for Human rights and the rule of Law". Because, "in defeating one evil, we must Not open the door to an Orwellian future", he Warned.
=> "Fortunately, we have common (Pan-)European standards (for all the 47 CoE's Member States, including Russia) on this,” he optimistically observed. In particular :
- (1) “The European Convention on Human Rights requires Surveillance measures to have a Legal basis and be Necessary and Proportionate to their Goal", placed under ECHR's Judicial Monitoring.
+ (2) Moreover, "Automated data collection, Processing and Storage should satisfy the standards of the recently modernised Convention 108+" on Personal Data Protection.
++ (3) "States must Ensure that these requirements are Met BEFORE Track-and-trace Measures are Introduced, and" (probably most Important) "must establish Public TRUST in them, FROM THE OUTSET”, he urged.
+++ (4) Last, but not least, “Exceptional Crises justify Exceptional Measures, But they must be LIMITED to the OBJECTIVE, in SCOPE and TIME and comply with Fundamental Rights" of the People, Instead of a "Constant Personal Surveillance, Following our Every Move, for UnKnown and UnAccountable Purposes", President Daems stressed today.
=> It's in these circumstances that, inter alia, French mainstream Center-Right Opposition "Republican" Party (ChristianDemocrats/EPP) Top Official Bruno Retailleau has just send a Letter to President Macron Warning him that such a Political Decision, as an eventual imposal of Massive "Tracking", (even on any Citizens' access to his/her Workplace, a Doctor, Grocery Store, a short Promenade solo, or to Help an Elderly person, etc), would be "Formidably Risky" and complicated !
- In particular, for Retailleau, it would also become Useless, if France was UnAble to ensure a Massive prior Testing (of that Virus' Infections), as well as a Generalized use of protective Masks", (a Big Controversy here, as French Officials have, until recently, Claimed that normal Masks would Not be Appropriate for Citizens, But Reserved Only to relevant Public Authorities' Agents : Medical staff, Police, etc)...
+=> "I am Asking him (President Macron) to provide Guarantees on Security and (Personal) Liberty", and to carefully measure all Immplications, Retailleau stressed, shortly Before the forthcoming Official Announcements.
Naturally, it Remains to be seen Whether the relevant National and European Legal and Political bodies, as well as International Human Rights Organisations, and, (mainly) the Majority of the People, could be Convinced, or Not.
Particularly when Crucial Local (2020) and Regional (2021) Elections are Soon followed, in a straight line, even by Decisive Presidential and Legislative Elections (2022) in France, (well Before the Culmination of EU-wide Elections on 2024)...
(../..)
("Draft-News")
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Scientific innovation joined to Faith for Human Rights, Eastern Partnership and fight against the Crisis, but above all, the need to overcome the "Crisis of Trust" from EU Citizens, are the main priorities for new EU Parliament's President, Polish Jerzy Buzek, that a 555-votes-strong majority of MEPs on July 14, Strasbourg made a living symbol of the fact that, 20 years after the fall of Berlin Wall (1989 - 2009) there is no more an Eastern or Western Europe, but only one Europe, as the head of the largest group of MEPs, ChristianDemocrats/EPP, Joseph Daul, stressed after the event.
Speaking later to a group of Strasbourg's Journalists, including "EuroFora", the new EU Parliament's President clarified his stance on concrete topical issues, as f.ex. that of Turkey's controversial EU bid, which was one of the main issues of the June 2009 Electoral campain, clearly won by his party of ChristianDemocrats/EPP : - "At present, Turkey does not fullfil none of EU conditions", he stressed, (See infra).

Buzek is well known in Strasbourg and to "EuroFora" as EU Rapporteur for the Framework Program of Scientific Research and Development of Technologies. A Natural Science Professor from the Historic and Religious landmark Polish City of Częstochowa, active in the famous Solidarnosk grass-roots social movement, he served 4 years as Prime Minister (1997-2001), before being elected as MEP in 2004 and 2009, after he brillantly won the latest EU Election at the head of his party (EPP) almost doubling the number of its MEPs from 15 to 28 !
- "Innovation" and "Energy safety", as well as fight against the "Cimat change", but also "Eastern Partnership", the "Mediterranean", "Strategic partnerships" with Russia, the USA, etc, and the search for "solutions to the Economic Crisis" that EU Citizens "expect" from us, will be his "priorities", announced from the outset the new EU Parliament's President, reminding also that the quest for "Human and Civic Rights" played an important role in his experience with the Solidarnosc grass-roots social movement in Poland's History
But, the most important of all, is the urgent need to overcome the "Crisis of Trust" between EU Institutions and the People he stressed : - EU "Citizens often don't understand us", denounced Buzek, launcing a call to "do anything for EU Citizens to understand our work" in EU Parliament : "We (MEPs) need to make EU Citizens involved" in "what we are doing every week, in Strasbourg and Brussels", he proposed. Pointing f.ex. to the hot "Debates" with "strong arguments" exchanged between MEPs during the preparation of their Legislative Decisions, in Committees, delivering often hard struggles between initially opposed points of view, long before forging a majority at the final vote, sometimes more than a year..
Therefore, EU Parliament will be "open to your criticism, for discussion and exchange of views", he promissed to Journalists in Strasbourg.
In this way, Buzek, in fact, highlighted "EuroFora"s main idea, that we strongly advocate since 1997-2007, to systematicaly and actively involve EU Citizens in public debates during the decision-making process of important EU measures, which affect their lives and the society in which they live, (and not only just a few weeks each 4 or 5 Years at the eve of EU Elections)...
--------------------
This is related also to the symbolic gift that Buzek chose to give to the out-going former EU Parliament's President, Hans Gert Poettering, (2007-2009), his collegue in the ChristianDemocrats/EPP, who brillantly won 2009 EU Elections in Germany : A genuine statute of sainte Barbara crafted in Silesia's black Coal by Polish Miners : Those simple but strong people who fought for social change against some technocrats and bureaucrats disguissed into so-called "real-socialists" of old times. (PHOTO).
It's enough to have seen a popular open air mass, at Warsaw's center, with many thousands of people, old and young, simple workers and intellectuals mixed together, with references to Poland's history and struggles for survival and liberty, through various ages, (as fex. that organized at the eve of CoE's 2005 panEuropean Heads of State and Government for the beatification of late Pope John-Paul II), in order to understand what such symbols mean..

But, overcoming the "Crisis of Trust" with EU Citizens obviously implies also to rectify any errors done in the past, fex. on Turkey's controversial EU bid, with controversial decisions taken in 1999 and 2004 to give a "candidate" status and to start EU negotiations, provoking an unprecedented series of 3 "No" to EuroReferenda and 3 Majoriy Abstentions in EU Parliament Elections : 1999, 2005 and 2009, (even if the latest one succeeded to decelerate and almost stop the drop of participation rates, opening hopes for vote's revival after an electoral campaign clearly critical to Turkey's claims in several mainstream EU countries)
Therefore, Buzek was faced with manifold critical Questions on EU Enlargement, most of them citting concrete examples of certain political problems : But his replies were almost always given as a matter of general principle :
F.ex. Questioned on the suspension of EU - Croatia talks because of a Border conflict with EU Member Slovenia, Buzek prefered to speak about principles :
- "We know that during Enlargement, the process can be blocked by failure to resolve this kind of issues", This concerns also other enlargments' cases", and "these rules are always in force" he warned.
But Buzek avoided to directly reply to a queston on "French and German EPP' calls to define the Borders of Europe", as a German journalist asked him by making a reference to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and German Chancellor Angie Merkel's, critical statements on Turkey at the June 2009 Electoral campain.
- "Concerning Enlargement, there's always the same rules : There have to be Criteria, which have to be respected if a Country wants to join the EU", he started to simply reply.
- "For my country (Poland) it took us 15 Years to fullfil these Criteria", Buzek reminded, indicating, if proportions are kept, that Turkey, fex. would have to spend some 25 years before eventually joining the EU..
- "Countries wishing to join the EU need to Change their Systems", as we (Poland and other former Eastern European Countries) did, he stressed.
- "'For me, meeting the condition of Human Rights is one of the Key conditions for membership in the EU", preferring again to speak from the point of view of General Principles, on the occasion of an untimely question on Serbia (which is not even a candidate yet)...
- "Turkey" has, "first of all", to fullfil (EU) Copenhagen criteria". Bevause, currently, none of them is fullfiled by Turkey", New EU Parliament's President, denounced, speaking later to a group of Journalists, including "EuroFora".
In particular, on Human Rights : - "We (EU) can never forget Human Rights", because "this is at the very Foundations of the EU", Buzek added.
On the contrary, when he referred to EU Enlargment for the "Western Balkans Countries ", Buzek appeared upbeat, finding "promising situations", despite "difficulties" in the Past, since "Countries are queuing to become EU members", and this "generated changes", as he said.
As for Russia, Buzek observed that it was a "very important" country, located "in the same Continent", Europe, "close to our borders", and "we need eachother". "But Russia' has 'differend poblems : "They claim that their system is Democratic, but rules are differend", and we must be "aware of such differencies", fex. "on Human Rights", that we can't ignore, as he said;
Concerning China, where a journalist observed that the recipient of EU Parliament's latest "Sakharov prize" for freedom of thought is "still in prison", Buzek found that since the 1999 events in Tien Amin square, "we see differencies on Human Rights still today", and expressed his "support" for those who try to ameliorate the situation.
On the contrary, speaking recently to "EuroFora" he strongly supported the idea for an EU - Ukraine cooperation, fex. between Airbus and Antonov, in order to build a less costly but more performant than the old and problematic A400M, new Military Transport Airplane : - "They (Ukranian Antonov Company) can certainly do it. I'm sure they can. It's a good Idea, and I'd be glad if it was done", he told us. (See : http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/airbusantonov.html )