EU Parliament Chokes on Online Freedom Bill? Surprise, Surprise!

In the interests of political expediency, the European Parliament recently snuffed one critical amendment, in a larger piece of legislation, which would have made a firm stand for the rights of citizens in the online world. Amendment 138 had previously enjoyed solid support from the governing body. But the lead rapporteur (essentially, chief policy wonk) Catherine Trautmann, unceremoniously scuttled the amendment when it appeared it might stand in the way of the smooth passage of the Telecoms Package. Check out a more complete story here.

Chalk this one up to the growing pains of the European Union, a political body with a normally high standard and good track record when it comes to protecting individual liberties. Hopefully the sinking of amendment 138 does not signal a reverse trend of caving into corporate interests at the expense of the freedoms enjoyed by the average citizen.