Xanthippa's Chamberpot

Just received this email – thought I’d share:

Friend,

If you complain about censorship to the European Parliament, they’ll just censor you.

That’s the message that concerned citizens in the EU have been receiving after the European Parliament’s IT department began blocking thousands of emails from citizens opposed to a controversial new policy (one that itself could have a serious impact on Europeans’ freedom of expression online).

And if we complain? I suppose they’ll block those emails too. So instead of emailing, help us make this petition go viral!

Everyone deserves a voice! Don’t let the European Parliament silence the people they are supposed to represent. Click here to take action and demand that they immediately stop blocking emails from their citizens.

Politicians need to know that silencing people’s opinions is not an option. Share this petition on Twitter and Facebook to make sure they get the message:

The censorship was uncovered earlier today by an MEP from the Pirate Party. Here’s his first hand account of what went down:

“Next week the European parliament will be voting on a resolution to ‘ban all forms of pornography in media.’ After this information became known to a wider audience, many citizens have decided to contact members of the European parliament to express their views on this issue … Before noon, some 350 emails had arrived in my office. But around noon, these mails suddenly stopped arriving. When we started investigating why this happened so suddenly, we soon found out: The IT department of the European Parliament is blocking the delivery of the emails on this issue, after some members of the parliament complained about getting emails from citizens.”

You can read his full account here.

Shockingly, this is not the first time this has happened. During the widespread outcry against ACTA, Parliamentary authorities decided to send all emails related to ACTA to MEP’s spam folders.

Tell the members of the European Parliament to do their jobs. Censoring opinions from concerned citizens is unacceptable and undemocratic. Sign the petition now.

Thank you for taking action against censorship. If everyone shares this petition and forwards this email to friends, we can generate enough outcry to ensure that the public’s voice is heard.

For Internet freedom,
Holmes, Tiffiniy, Evan, and the whole team.
Center for Rights / Fight for the Future

p.s. Protecting freedom of expression everywhere is what keeps us up at night. After you sign the petition, can you donate to support Center for Rights’s international anti-censorship efforts? Every contribution makes a difference!