ENFOPOL Zone

For those of you who can´t read spanish: don´t despair, there´s always hope ;-)
Last update: 28 January 2002

On May 7th, 1999, the European Parliament approved the Council Resolution on Legal Interception of Communications. Widely known as "Enfopol resolution," it opens the way toward a surveillance and tapping system in the whole European Union territory. The wide extension of its powers, together with the secrecy it has been developed in, turn it into a serious potential threat for privacy in the Europe of the next millennium.

This is a translation (partial but as large as possible) of "Zona Enfopol" (Enfopol Zone, a section of my Cryptography Workshop (sorry, it´s 95% in spanish; still, you´re welcome) that I made in order to shed some light into this subject. Any Enfopol-like plan should be public and scrutinized by the citizens it is supposed to protect.

Input wanted Know some other webpage about Enfopol? Documents, ciber-activists, whatever? I´d like to know from them. Just drop me some bytes at aquiran at ugr dot es

ENFOPOL Zone has the following parts (some in spanish, some in english):


Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (who will watch the watchers?). Old romans knew well; maybe they had their own Enfopolus documents? Here´s Enfopol Watch", a personal effort to track the latest steps into the Convention´s path towards ratification Welcome to:

Enfopol Watch


Associations and entities

Kriptopolis. Many news are contained in its bulletin (yeah, also in spanish).
Electronic Frontiers Spain (no relation with EFF). They´re gone, but they left their mark.
Lanzadera.com/Enfopol. Some activism in cyberspace.
Telepolis They gave the alarm call, and have a section in english. Outstanding.
Freedomforlinks.de From Germany, includes some info in english.
FITUG Many and updated links. Also has a english section.
Enfopol.com So far, just the Telepolis documents (german).
Quintessenz Enfopol debates also in Austria.
Verein Für Internet-Benutzer Österreichs (VIBE) Austrian internauts on the move.
Foundation for Information Policy Research
Statewatch UE-no-thanks, includes information on Enfopol and the Convention (100% english!).
Cyber-Rights Its section on interception is very interesting.
Privacy.org From the USA.
Global Internet Liberty Campaign. Watch their alerts
Citadel (France)
Internet Users´ Association (France)
Electronic Frontiers Ireland
ALCEI (Electronic Frontiers Italy)

And now, for input from official webpages:

Enfopol Docs


First period: 1995 - 1999

Starts with the first Resolution on the Legal Interception of Communications (1.995) and ends roughly with the passing of its successor Enfopol 19 (May 1.999) which put the word "Enfopol" in the map.

17 january 1995 Resolution on the Legal Interception of Communications.. It´s the mother of all Enfopols. Published in the Official Journal (nº C 329 de 04/11/1996) and posted on the Internet with date 11 march 1999
Enfopol 98, 3 September 1998 (Draft Resolution on the Legal Interception related to New Technologies; that is, an updated Enfopol), as it was leaked to Telepolis on 20 November 1998.
European Parliament: Session of 7 May 1999 when the Enfopol 19 resolution was approved (point 9: Legal interception of telecommunications. Schmidt Report - A4-0243/99). This links to the spanish version, but surely you´ll be able to access to the english version.
Enfopol 98, Rev 1 (10 November 1998). Enfopol 98 revised, with specific mentions to the Internet and satellite telephony.
Enfopol 98 Rev 2 (3 December 1998).
Enfopol 98 Rev 2 Cor 1 (26 January 1999).
Enfopol 19 (15 Marzo 1999)


First interlude: 1999 - 2000

During this intermediate period, the drafting of Enfopol documents and legal interception Resolutions is drastically reduced due to bad publicity generated and the lack of public political support. Meanwhile, the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Member States of the European Union is debated and approved; its Title III (Interception of Telecommunications) authorizes european-wide electronic snooping. Even though the Enfopol Requirements are not explicitly mentioned, they will be used to establish the kind and extension of police tappings.

Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters. Final version, as signed in Brussels on 29 May 2000


Second period: 2000 - 2001

After the first interlude, the Enfopol actions get a boost. First of all, it is sought that the Enfopol 19 resolution be -once more- updated and extended; hence, the Enfopol 29, Enfopol 55 and following see the light (now the "requirements" are called "operational needs"). Similarly, the term "interception of communications" is replaced by the more politically correct "advanced technologies."
In a second front, law-enforcement authorities want to extend its interception capabilites further, so the propose the idea of storing all traffic data of all kind of communications for a period of time of up to seven years. The European Parliament and Commission want to stop this bigbrotherish version of European Parapolice Union with the COM (2000) 285 Directive on data protection and privacy in the field of electronic communications, where the wide-scale storing and abusive use of communication data will be preventing.


Front A: "Operational needs" (formerly "requirements")
Enfopol 52 (12 Julio 2000) The subject of interception of communications is now called "advanced technologies" (as we say in my place, the same dog with a different collar).
Enfopol 29 (20 Marzo 2001) Competent authorities design their operational needs.
Enfopol 55 (20 June 2001) Council Resolution on the operational needs of law enforcement in relation with public telecommunication networks and services. It´s the final approval of Enfopol 29, and the natural heir to Enfopol 19.


Front B: The COM (2000) 385 Directive on data protection and privacy in communications
Enfopol 71 (31 October 2.000) On the COM (2000) 385 data protection Directive and the inconvenients it would pose to law enforcement bodies.
Enfopol 71 Rev 1 (27 Noviembre 2.000) Enlarging of Enfopol 71, where a number of police cases are shown to support the data-warehouse thesis.

Press clipboard: selection It includes links to english articles. It does not contain everything, but I´m no Altavista either ;-)

Additional docs.

+ Statewatch on European Surveillance
+ EU-FBI telecommunications surveillance system
+ European Union and FBI launch global surveillance systemStatewatch report, 10 February 1997
+ EU adopt FBI "Requirements" to launch surveillance system Statewatch bulletin, Ene-Feb 1997
+ New Convention to legitimise surveillance - group of "20" implementing EU-FBI plan Statewatch bull. Jul-Oct 1997
+ New Convention on mutual assistance in legal matters Statewatch bulletin, Jul-Oct 1997
+ 75% of MEP absent for Enfopol vote - EuroISPA. European ISPs speak out.
+ PE 166.499: Assessment on the Technologies for Political Control (summary)

© Arturo Quirantes Sierra.  Algunos derechos reservados según Licencia Creative Commons