Internet is under attack in Mexico
Mexico's new Telecommunications Law will be voted in the Senate in the coming days. The government's proposal attacks the rights to freedom of expression and privacy of Mexican Internet users.
Internet censorship: Article 145 of the proposal allows the censorship of Internet content, services and applications by request of authorities or unilaterally by the Internet service providers. This provision is contrary to the right to freedom of expression and the prohibition of prior censorship established in the Mexican Constitution and in the American Convention on Human Rights.
Signals blocking: Article 190 VII of the proposal allows authorities to block, annul or inhibit telecommunications signals in "events and places critical for public safety or national security". This provision would allow authorities to block communications signals in areas such as public protests, impeding journalistic work, the documentation of human rights violations or the use of emergency services.
Net neutrality: Net neutrality prevents Internet service providers from arbitrarily hindering or favoring any type of Internet traffic. Net neutrality ensures that all users, whatever their resources, access the same and whole network. The proposal, on the contrary, threatens this essential principle of the Internet by establishing, in article 146, that ISPs "can make offers according to the needs of market segments and clients, differentiating between capacity, speed or quality levels". Also, there are no adequate supervision and transparency mechanisms to detect and punish net neutrality violations.
Indiscriminate data retention: The proposal obliges companies to retain communications data of all users indiscriminately. Data such as origin and destination of communications, date, time and duration of communications, identity of the users, the geographic location of the communication device, among others, will be collected and stored for 24 months or even indefinitely, by request of any authority and without a judicial warrant or any other safeguard.
Access to personal data without safeguards: The proposal authorizes the access of retained personal communications data without safeguards. Not only the prosecutor office would be allowed to access the data for the investigation of determined serious crimes, but the data could be accessed by the Federal Police, the Army, the Navy and National Security Agency (CISEN) under ample and vague circumstances. No judicial warrant or any other safeguards are established to prevent abuse.
Real-time location tracking of communication devices:The proposal authorizes the real-time location tracking of communication devices without judicial warrant or any other adequate safeguards. Authorities such as the Federal Police, the Army, the Navy and the National Security Agency (CISEN) would be allowed to use this surveillance tool under for ample and vague reasons. The absence of adequate safeguards against abuse severely infringe mexican users right to privacy and compromise the security of citizens.
The Telecommunications Law attacks mexicans rights on the Internet
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