08 November, 2017
ETNO Press Release: ETNO joins the Council of Europe Partnership on promoting an open and safe internet
Strasbourg, 8 November 2017 – ETNO, the Association representing Europe’s leading telecom operators, is proud to announce it has joined a partnership with the Council of Europe. The partnership, which was launched today at a high level meeting in Strasbourg, is aimed at promoting an open and safe internet, where human rights and the rule of law are upheld.
ETNO joins the Council of Europe Partnership on promoting an open and safe internet
Strasbourg, 8 November 2017 – ETNO, the Association representing Europe’s leading telecom operators, is proud to announce it has joined a partnership with the Council of Europe. The partnership, which was launched today at a high level meeting in Strasbourg, is aimed at promoting an open and safe internet, where human rights and the rule of law are upheld.
ETNO joined along with other telecom operators, tech companies and industry associations. This structured collaboration is part of the Council of Europe Strategy on Internet Governance (2016-2019), which encourages co-operation with the private sector and civil society.
ETNO and its companies are long engaged on the topic and both our Association and several of our members collaborate with the Global Network Initiative, the global platform for advancing freedom of expression and privacy in ICT.
More in specific, we will collaborate with the Council of Europe through the ETNO Working Group of Sustainable Development, which promotes a proactive approach to sustainability and corporate sustainability issues in the telecoms community.
Among others, the Council of Europe foresees collaboration and exchange of best practices in crucial areas such as cybercrime, digital citizenship, rights of persons with disabilities and children’s rights in the digital environment.
The collaboration agreement with the Council of Europe was signed today at 13hrs in the Palais de l’Europe. Executive Chairman Steven Tas signed on behalf of ETNO, while Secretary-General Thorbjørn Jagland signed on behalf of the Council of Europe.
ETNO Chairman Steven Tas said: “As our lives digitise, we need to ensure that all the freedoms and principles of the physical world are also applied online. ETNO and its companies are at the forefront in fighting cybercrime, protecting personal data and making internet safer for the younger generations. We need to strengthen the pan-European collaboration on these topics and ensure we all do our part to make the internet a safer, more open and more democratic place”.
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