EMFA: 500 journalists call on MEPs to ban spyware surveillance
Dear honorable Members of the European Parliament,
Ahead of the upcoming vote of the draft report on the proposed European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), journalists in Europe are urging you to introduce an absolute ban on the surveillance of journalists through spyware in this text.
Some of us, and many of our colleagues across Europe and the world, have been unlawfully targeted in the past years, including by EU Member States. Some of whom have used intrusive surveillance weapons against us, threatening and potentially breaching confidential communications with our sources, invading our private lives and putting our safety at risk.
Spyware is today a major threat to press freedom. It gives access to a disproportionate and unrestricted amount of data: all the individual’s communications, photos, contacts and online behaviour data are collected – without the knowledge of the victim. The EU must urgently put an end to it.
For us journalists, digital security and data integrity are essential to guarantee our safety, and confidentiality and protection to our sources. We must be able to trust our devices and channels of communications in order to provide public interest and quality journalism.
Several EU governments have infected journalists’ phones with spyware while using national security as a pretext. Including the same grounds in future legislation would threaten our ability to hold governments to account, which is a cornerstone of EU democratic values. We need full and immediate protection.
Although a number of safeguards have been considerably added in the course of parliamentary work, too many loopholes remain. The European Parliament can still close them and offer us the shield we need from illegal surveillance.
We call on you today to prohibit the use of spyware against journalists in the EMFA.
The first 50 signatories are listed below, the full list can be found here.
1. Christoph Seibel, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 2. Martina Rinner, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 3. Clemens Toman, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 4. Sonja Sagmeister, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 5. Andrea Wolfinger, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 6. Elke Weiss, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 7. Katharina Schenk, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 8. Bibiane Zeller-Presenhuber, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 9. Daniela Koller, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 10. Sabine Schuster, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 11. Helene Voglreiter, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 12. Martina Shad-kalmar, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 13. Sandra Oelz, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 14. Arwid Holtenau, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 15. Konstantin Obermayr, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 16. Sascha Schrems, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 17. Daniela Soykan-Tober, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 18. Astrid Spielberger, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 19. Markus Preslmayr, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 20. Ajda Sticker, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 21. Robert Gordon, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 22. Josef Peter Glanz, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 23. Guenther Loeffelmann, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 24. Marie-Theres Engelmayer, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 25. Alexandra Siebenhofer, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 26. Andrea Brosch-Wichtl, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 27. Matthias Schrom-Kux, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 28. Katharina Gruber, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 29. Wera Gruber, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 30. Klaus Prömpers, Freelance, Neue Westfälische, DOMRADIO Köln, Austria 31. Helga Bergmann, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 32. Michael Meister, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 33. Judith Brandner, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 34. Michael Fiedler, Radio FM4, Austria 35. Jens Lang, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 36. Diana Koehler, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 37. René Froschmayer, Radio FM4, Austria 38. Stefan Trischler, Radio FM4, Austria 39. Alex Wagner, Österreichischer Rundfunk – ORF, Austria 40. Karl van den Broeck, Apache.be, Belgium 41. Steven Vanden Bussche, Apache.be, Belgium 42. Joel Matriche, Le Soir, Belgium 43. Priyanka Shankar, Independent, Belgium, India 44. Irina Nedeva, Bulgarian National Radio, Bulgaria 45. Dora Kršul, Telegram.hr, Croatia 46. Bojan Arežina, Hrvatska radiotelevizija – HRT, Croatia 47. Denis Romac, Večernji list, Croatia 48. Silvana Mendusic, Telegram.hr, Croatia 49. Giovanni Vale, Freelance, Croatia 50. Barbara Majstorovic Ivezic, Nova Tv, Croatia…
