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By Joey Gardiner, 29 May 2002 10:00

NEWS Blanket surveillance of communications data could become a reality as the European Parliament votes on a key amendment to telecommunications law on Thursday. The Parliament is due to vote on proposed changes to a 1997 directive on telecommunications privacy which covers everything from the monitoring of email to consumer rights over spam and cookies. The amendments due to be voted on propose to beef up consumer protection with regards to data held on cookies, but are at the expense of government demands for more rights over citizen data. Caspar Bowden, director of digital society think-tank the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR), told silicon.com the vote would be a watershed moment for European civil rights. He said: "It is very important MEPs reject this. If not, it's the end for civil liberties in Europe, it's game over. "This is the crux of the argument, and could signal the biggest sea change in surveillance in a generation." All sides in the debate accept the police should be able to apply to monitor communications related to terrorist or serious criminal investigations. However, privacy activists see the debate as a black and white issue over whether governments - and specifically law enforcement agencies - should in addition expect wider access to citizens' electronic data. Proponents of the amendments say they are not looking for blanket access for citizens' data, and argue that any proposals will be in accordance to the European Convention of Human Rights, which would not allow such actions. They say the issue is less clear cut and that governments should be given the powers to "necessary, appropriate and proportionate measure within a democratic society to safeguard national security." However, despite the reference to national security, explicit demands are made in the amendments to allow the provisions to be used for "criminal investigations". In the UK the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act, drafted last year in the wake of 11 September, has already made most of the proposed surveillance measures legal. However, FIPR's Bowden said an emphatic rejection of the proposals could make the more extreme UK measures illegal under European law. Last week a coalition of 40 international privacy groups from 15 countries wrote to MEPs urging them to vote down the changes. But privacy groups aren't optimistic at the outcome. According to lobby group Statewatch, the amendments now have the support of both the Socialist and Conservative factions in the European Parliament.