It was a normal day here in Brussels. But not for Amelia and the Pirate community. As the people were going to work and children went to school, we were getting ready for a demonstration, speeches and handing a petition. The topic was: Internet survelliance and endangered online privacy.

 

Tempora – perhaps a strange latin word, but in reality a British government-run initiative that monitors e-mails, web pages, Facebook, Twitter or any other mean of on-line communication, as well as phone calls. Such an idea might be seen as noble for those who always talk about stopping the terrorism. Needles to say, European treaties were violated. To be more exact – The treaty on Functioning of the European Union was. This treaty states that every individual that is a citizen of EU has a right for privacy. This right is indisputable.

 

The European Comission is the body responsible for guarding this one as well as other treaties. That is the reason why we gathered at Schuman Square, Brussels, right in front of the Berlaymont building. The goal was that the european bureaucrats from the building will stop for a while and hear how the main EU treaties are being violated, rights of European citizens compromised and Internet privacy endangered. Many leading Pirates from Europe had a speech, including Amelia.

 

When several of our spokesperson delivered their speeches to the protesting crowd, we moved few hundred meters downhill to the front side of the Berlaymont building – the main seat of the European Commission. Leading Pirate figures like Amelia and Nico Kern, member of the North Rhein-Westphalian Parliament in Germany, were chosen to hand in to the Commission thousands of signatures from EU citizens asking European Commissioner for Justice Viviene Reding to take action.

 

After some waiting and talk with police as well as the security we made it to the building. A nice lady took the box and said it will be given to the correspondent commissioner. Now it is in their hands. But we can hope that this whole issue will be on the table of the responsible people and action will be taken.