European day of action: Citizens call on MEPs to protect digital rights

Today, a coalition of 36 civil rights organisations invites European citizens to take part in a day of action to make sure that the next European Parliament defends digital civil and human rights. Through WePromise.eu, people can pledge to vote for candidates who have signed up to protect digital rights.

Ed Paton-Williams, Campaigner at Open Rights Group said:

‘In recent months, we’ve seen the European Parliament vote on issues such as data protection, net neutrality and surveillance, all of which have a big impact on our privacy and free speech online. We need to make sure that the MEPs we vote for will understand, promote and defend our online rights.

About WePromise.eu

The idea of the WePromise.eu is simple: Candidates promise to support a Charter of ten digital rights principles. Citizens promise to vote for candidates who have, by election day, signed the Charter. The campaign was initiated by European Digital Rights (EDRi), a network of 36 civil rights organisations run in cooperation with international activist group GoVeto. Over 330 candidates for the European Parliament from 24 Member States have already signed the Charter, including 32 from the UK.

London MEPs face questions on digital rights

As part of the WePromise.eu action day, Open Rights Group will tonight host a Q&A session with MEP candidates Claude Moraes (Labour), Sarah Ludford (Liberal), Danny Bates (Green) and Paul Oakley (UKIP). Chaired by writer and journalist Glyn Moody, the debate will give voters the opportunity to question the candidates on how they will work for our online rights. The event will take place at Shoreditch Village Hall, from 6.30pm.

To attend tonight’s event or for more information about WePromise.eu, please email pam@openrightsgroup.org