Identification obligation on the internet? The Pirate Party’s provocative campaign succeeds

In the end it was enough: the referendum against the new Youth Protection Act is in force. The Pirate Party and its comrades-in-arms handed over the necessary signatures to the Federal Chancellery on Thursday.

Campaign leader Pascal Fouquet:

That’s remarkable. In the end, the referendum leaders were left alone. None of the established parties or associations supported the project.

The law received broad approval in parliament last fall. The idea was that young people should be better protected against images of violence and sex.

What’s planned?

Politicians would like to make platform services such as YouTube responsible: they should set up a system themselves to check the age of users.

But it is precisely this age check that disturbs the opponents. They warn that this requires uploading a copy of an official ID.

For Pascal Fouquet, vice president of the Pirate Party, this “ID obligation on the internet” leads to “massive misuse of personal data”. He claims:

What do the corona skeptics have to do with it?

Despite the massive criticism, the situation seemed hopeless at the beginning of the year. Just under three weeks before the deadline, the opponents had collected just over half of the signatures.

The Pirate Party does not say that corona skeptics have also been busy collecting signatures. Nicolas Rimoldi, head of “Mass-Voll”, has been crying against the “excessive” law for months. The opponents of the measures had already proven their mobilization potential in the referenda against the Covid-19 law.

And Operation Libero?

The fact that the referendum against the Youth Protection Act was ultimately sufficient is mainly due to the recent dynamics. That was probably the deciding factor Operation Libero was turned on. In a blog post, the organization clearly positioned itself against the new law. “If you think it’s weird that Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and the like are always allowed to see your official ID, sign the referendum too.”

More important than the request was Operation Libero’s reach on social media. The media soon picked up on the subject and asked whether the law would lead to mandatory identification on the internet. The campaign’s arguments caught on. In a “20 minute” survey, 80 percent said the law goes too far.

IT industry representative contradicts pirate party

The chairman of the Pirate Party, Jorgo Ananiadis, is confirmed. “The digital political naivety of the administration and parliament has once again given us an unspeakable law.” There are of course no politicians and no party with digital competence in parliament.

Judith Bellaiche, National Councilor of the Zurich GLP, does not accept this accusation. “The law does not provide for an explicit identification requirement.” That is not the will of the legislature.

The general manager of the IT umbrella organization Swico resolutely rejects an identification requirement. This too is “barely enforceable” and not desired by the providers.

Why does the data protection officer give it all-clear

The question remains: who is right? Will we soon all have to identify ourselves online to watch a YouTube video? No, says federal data protection officer Adrian Lobsiger. In this case, the principle of proportionality requires that the most privacy-friendly solution be chosen.

In other words, no unnecessary data may be collected and processed for other purposes. The law states that platform service providers only have to take ‘appropriate measures’ to protect minors against inappropriate content. Similar regulations already existed for tanning beds and cigarette vending machines.

Bellaiche assumes that it will result in a self-declaration – as with the sale of alcohol in the online store. Youth protection organizations would then check this on a random basis. The GLP National Councilor admits that the law does not exclude the burden of proof per se. Therefore, the regulation, which regulates the details, should be carefully considered.

(aargauerzeitung.ch)