@Chamber of Deputies, Mexico
The new trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada, USMCA, entered into force on July 1st, 2020, which has led to new reforms in Mexican legislation. Under the hashtag #NiCensuraNiCandados, civil society organizations have expressed concern about the new digital laws, considering them a serious threat to human rights, specifically the right to freedom of expression. They also denounce that they put people’s security and privacy at risk.
The new reforms of the Federal Copyright Law implies “a private censorship mechanism known as “notification and withdrawal.” If a person alleges that a content or publication violates their copyright, Internet service providers must remove it, without providing evidence of the infringement and without the order of a judicial authority”, explained the Director of R3D, Digital Rights Defense Network, during a webinar on June 25th.
“The mechanism of “notification and withdrawal” has been used to remove content and information of public interest, violating the right to freedom of expression of the person who publishes the information, as well as the right of people to know about relevant events in a democratic society democratic”, a bulletin, signed by several organizations, published on the page of Articulo 19 on June 17th points out, in which they ask the Mexican government to protect the public interest and human rights.
Other reforms in the Federal Penal Code “contemplate sanctions of up to ten years in prison for evading technological protection measures. These measures, also called “digital locks,” are imposed by hardware and software manufacturers to prevent access, copying, or modification of information contained in a device or system”, R3D reports.
Despite these questions, on June 29th and 30th, these reforms were approved by both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic.
In view of this, more than 30 civil organizations condemned these reforms for considering them to be in violation of the Constitution and for violating human rights. They demanded the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) and urged legislators to take steps due to unconstitutionality.
More information in Spanish:
#NiCensuraNiCandados: Reformas para implementar el TMEC pretenden establecer mecanismos de censura y criminalizar la elusión de candados digitales (Articulo 19, 17 de junio)
Senado aprueba reformas a Ley de Derechos de Autor para armonizarse con T-MEC(Milenio, 29 de junio)
¿Censura en Internet? Esto es lo que el Senado aprobó sobre los contenidos en la red (El Heraldo de México, 1 de julio)
More information from SIPAZ:
National/International: United States Formally Approves USMCA Trade Agreement (February 2, 2020)
National/International: Mexican Senate Ratifies US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (July 4, 2019)
Mexico: 2019 Highest Number of Attacks on the Press – Articulo 19 (May 28, 2020)
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