Hello,<br><br>Yesterday a letter from people of the Bulgarian Internet community was sent to ISOC.<br><br>You may be intereted to read it.<br><br>Kind regards,<br>Nikola Geshev<br>Bulgarian Internet Users Group<br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">Ms.
Lynn St Amour</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">President/CEO
of ISOC </font>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">Dear
Ms. Amour,</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">We
would like to bring to your attention the issue that in a public
press-conference on May, 24</span></font><sup><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">th</span></font></sup><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">,
Mr. Veni Markovski, head of the Bulgarian chapter of Internet Society
(ISOC) for more than 12 years and also an ICANN employee, announced
that ISOC Bulgaria supports the candidates of “Coalition for
Bulgaria” (leading party is Bulgarian Socialist Party) for the
upcoming elections for European parliament in Bulgaria. (We attach
many newspaper reports and web links in section III of the appendix.
In Section V of the appendix you may find some reactions of the
members of ISOC Bulgaria.)</span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">We
are taken aback by the support of ISOC Bulgaria for a political
party. Shouldn't all ISOC chapters be politically neutral? We do not
deny the right of Mr. Veni Markovski to support personally any
candidate for the upcoming elections, only his right to cast an ISOC
branch as a supporter for one.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">In
addition, the current ruling coalition in Bulgaria, lead by the
Bulgarian Socialist Party, took some actions that were highly
unpopular among the Bulgarian Internet users:</font></p>
<ul><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">In
2008, The State Agency for Information technologies (whose advisor
is Mr. Markovski) and the Ministry of Interior affairs tried to
introduce a Decree that would enforce all Internet providers in
Bulgaria to collect and store for a long period practically
complete, and personally identifiable information about anything
done by all Internet users (eg. the sites they visited, the e-mails
they wrote etc.) According to the Decree, the police would be able
to access all of this information at any time, without the need for
a court order or an explanation why they might need it, without
leaving any trace that it was accessed, and without informing the
Internet users that they are, or have been tracked.</font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">The
proposed decree met the strong opposition of the Bulgarian Internet
community. The minister of Interior affairs, Mr. Mihail Mikov wanted
to make this a reality and added the texts in a law for the
amendment of “Law for electronic messages”. When the Bulgarian
parliament overthrew the proposed law, Mr. Mikov insisted for an
re-vote. The law was put by the ruling coalition, headed by BSP, for
re-vote four times (which is also against the Bulgarian
constitution). See part IV. of the attached appendix for more
information.</font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">Strangely
enough, Mr. Mikov is a member of the Internet Society in Bulgaria,
as well as other government oficials who are members of BSP.</font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">More
information about the mentioned cases is available from the
Bulgarian Helsinki Committee:
</span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.bghelsinki.org/index.php?module=news&lg=en&id=1099"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.bghelsinki.org/index.php?module=news&lg=en&id=1099</font></a></u></span></font><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">
or from an online newspaper here: </span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://tinyurl.com/qrjpq9"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://tinyurl.com/qrjpq9</font></a></u></span></font><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">
, </span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://tinyurl.com/ot5duv"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://tinyurl.com/ot5duv</font></a></u></span></font><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">
, </span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://tinyurl.com/oqo6xk"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://tinyurl.com/oqo6xk</font></a></u></span></font><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">
, </span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://tinyurl.com/qdjv74"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://tinyurl.com/qdjv74</font></a></u></span></font><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">
and </span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://tinyurl.com/p88ba6"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://tinyurl.com/p88ba6</font></a></u></span></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">Several
pan-European watchdogs have reported in recent years that the
current Bulgarian Government is the most corrupt in the European
Union (See Section II from the attached Appendix). The National
Security agency, which is subservient to the Bulgarian prime
minister closed an Internet website that was spreading information
about corruption. You can find more information from “Reporters
without Borders” here:
</span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28543"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28543</font></a></u></span></font></p>
</li></ul>
<p style="margin-left: 0.64cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">We
would like to know whether ISOC supports the position of Mr.
Markovski, and seconds his support for parties that strive to
implement this type of legislation.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">In
case that ISOC doesn't support such positions, we would also like to
know whether their dissent will be only verbal, or will be backed by
actions.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><b>Bulgarian
Internet Users Group</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">Attachments:</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><b>I.
Articles from “Reporters Without Borders”</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">1.
Bulgaria - World Report 2009</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=31015"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=31015</font></a></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">2.
Bulgaria - Annual Report 2008</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25469"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25469</font></a></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">3.
Former interior minister says “spineless” journalist should be
“hit”</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29263"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29263</font></a></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">4.
Threats against Frognews stepped up. Censored website Opasnite.net
reappears on Opasnite.eu </font>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28755"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28755</font></a></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">5.
Vicious assault on editor of Frog News </font>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28692"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28692</font></a></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">6.
Security agency closes corruption whistle-blower website</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28543"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28543</font></a></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><b>II.
Bulgaria is the most corrupt country in the European Union, according
to the Transparency International </b></font>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.euractiv.com/en/enlargement/report-unveils-eu-corrupt-countries/article-175668"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.euractiv.com/en/enlargement/report-unveils-eu-corrupt-countries/article-175668</font></a></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><b>III.
Newspaper articles that mention the ISOC Bulgaria support for
“Coalition for Bulgaria”</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><br>
</p>
<ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">“<font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US"><b>Duma”
newspaper</b></span></font></p>
<ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">Original:
</span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.duma.bg/2009/0509/250509/bulgaria/bul-5.html"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.duma.bg/2009/0509/250509/bulgaria/bul-5.html</font></a></u></span></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">Archive:
</span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=112957"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=112957</font></a></u></span></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">Partial
translation:</font></p>
<ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">Internet
Society supports “Coalition for Bulgaria” <br>“We support
the list of Coalition for Bulgaria for the European elections,
because they are the politicians who work to protect the interests
of Internet users.” It was said by the chairman of the
organization "Internet Society in Bulgaria - Veni Markovski.
... “It is important to support politicians who share our values
and defend the idea of using the Cyrillic alphabet in the virtual
space”, also stressed Markovski and thanked the Prime Minister
Sergey Stanishev, who is a member for years of the Internet
Society. </font>
</p>
</li></ol>
</li></ol>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">“<font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US"><b>Monitor”
newspaper</b></span></font></p>
<ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">Archive:
</span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=112935"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=112935</font></a></u></span></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">Partial
translation:</font></p>
<ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">The
support of the Internet Society in Bulgaria for “Coalition for
Bulgaria” for the European parliament elections was presented
personally by the President of the Governing Board of the
organization, Veni Markovski. According to him, it is important to
support politicians who share the values of the organization to
use the Internet without restrictions and to protect the rights of
consumers. Markovski added that Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev
and President of the State Agency for Information Technologies and
Communications Plamen Vachkov also enjoy the support of the
Internet Society in Bulgaria.</font></p>
</li></ol>
</li></ol>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">“<font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US"><b>Novinar”
newspaper</b></span></font></p>
<ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">Original:
</span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.novinar.net/?act=news&act1=det&stat=center&mater=Mjk1Mzs2MQ"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.novinar.net/?act=news&act1=det&stat=center&mater=Mjk1Mzs2MQ</font></a></u></span></font><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">==</span></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">Archive:
</span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=112952"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.pressboard.info/Preview.aspx?articleid=112952</font></a></u></span></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">Partial
translation:</font></p>
<ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">Yesterday,
the Internet Society - Bulgaria issued a statement that supports
the list of the Coalition for Bulgaria and its candidates in
elections to the European Parliament. <br>Cause the organization
to stand behind the red party was that Stanishev shared values of
society and the internet worked on consumer protection in the
virtual space. Close relationship between the organization and the
prime minister date for quite some years. During the celebration
of the 10th anniversary of the Internet Society - Bulgaria in
2006, Stanishev attended as special guest. </font>
</p>
</li></ol>
</li></ol>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">“<font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US"><b>Vsekiden”
online edition</b></span></font></p>
<ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US">Original:
</span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.vsekiden.com/?p=51400"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.vsekiden.com/?p=51400</font></a></u></span></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">Partial
translation:</font></p>
<ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">Internet
Society - Bulgaria supports the list of Coalition for Bulgaria for
the elections to the European Parliament (EP). This was said at a
press conference by Veni Markovski, Chairman of the Board of the
organization. It is important to support politicians who share the
values of the Internet Society - Bulgaria to use the Internet
without restrictions and protection of consumer rights, explained
Markovski. He added that the Prime Minister and President of BSP
Sergey Stanishev and President of the State Agency for Information
Technologies and Communications Plamen Vachkov also enjoy the
support of the Internet Society in Bulgaria, which are members for
years.</font></p>
</li></ol>
</li></ol>
</li></ol>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><b>5.
“24 Chasa” newspaper</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US"> 1.
Original: </span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.24chasa.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=140197"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.24chasa.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=140197</font></a></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> 2.
Partial translation:</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> Internet
Society - Bulgaria supports the list of Coalition for Bulgaria for
the elections for the European Parliament (EP), in which Ivaylo
Kalfin and Christian Vigenin are included, BTA reported.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> "It
is important to support politicians who share the values of the
Internet Society - Bulgaria to use the Internet without restrictions
and protection of consumer rights, said President of the organization
Veni Markovski.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> He
added that Sergey Stanishev and the President of the State Agency for
Information Technologies and Communications Plamen Vachkov also enjoy
the support of the Internet Society in Bulgaria, which are members
for years. According to Ivaylo Kalfin, Internet is free space, where
one must respect the laws, but not to impose restrictions.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><b>6.
“Gradski” online newspaper</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US"> 1.
Original: </span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.gradski.bg/show.php?storyid=724067"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">http://www.gradski.bg/show.php?storyid=724067</font></a></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> 2.
Partial translation:</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> Internet
Society - Bulgaria supports the list of Coalition for Bulgaria for
the elections to the European Parliament (EP), in which Ivaylo Kalfin
and Christian Vigenin participate. This was told by Veni Markovski,
Chairman of the Management Board of the organization.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> It
is important to support politicians who share the values of the
Internet Society - Bulgaria to use the Internet without restrictions
and protection of consumer rights. Prime Minister and President of
BSP Sergey Stanishev and President of the State Agency for
Information Technologies and Communications Plamen Vachkov also enjoy
the support of the Internet Society in Bulgaria, which are members
for years, explained Markovski.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><b>7.
“Trud” newspaper</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US"><b> </b></span></font><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1.
Original: </span></span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.trud.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=140199"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-weight: normal;">http://www.trud.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=140199</span></font></a></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> 2.
Partial translation:</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US"><b> </b></span></font><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Internet
Society - Bulgaria stood behind BSP</span></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> Internet
Society - Bulgaria supports the list of Coalition for Bulgaria for
the elections to the European Parliament (EP), which Ivaylo Kalfin
and Christian VIGENIN, BTA reported.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> "It
is important to support politicians who share the values of the
Internet Society - Bulgaria to use the Internet without restrictions
and protection of consumer rights, said President of the organization
veins Markovski.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> He
added that Sergey Stanishev and President of the State Agency for
Information Technologies and Communications Plamen Vachkov also enjoy
the support of the Internet Society in Bulgaria, which are members
for years. According to Ivaylo Kalfin Internet is free space, which
must respect the laws, but not to impose restrictions.</font></p>
<p style="margin-left: 2.54cm; text-indent: -0.64cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><b>IV.
Articles about actions of the current ruling coalition in Bulgaria:</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1.</span></span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://dnevnik.bg/bulgaria/2009/04/09/702570_parlamentut_othvurli_promenite_za_bezkontrolnoto/"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-weight: normal;">http://dnevnik.bg/bulgaria/2009/04/09/702570_parlamentut_othvurli_promenite_za_bezkontrolnoto/</span></font></a></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> 1.
Translation:</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> “By
74 votes in favor, 78 against and 3 abstentions, the parliament
rejected amendments to the Law on electronic communications,
providing the Ministry of Interior affairs an uncontrolled access to
data from the Internet and telephone printouts. In the original vote
on the amendment there were 89 MPs for, 74 against and six abstained,
so the amendments would have passed on first reading. The president
of the internal committee, Mincho Spasov (NMS), however called and
asked for a re-vote to save "the visit of this law in the
Constitutional Court.” In the re-vote, after the cards of the
absent MPs were gathered, the texts were rejected.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">This
way the fourth consecutive attempt to provide special services to
obtain traffic data without the permission of the judge failed. In
November 2008, the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) repeal the
ordinance 40 as unconstitutional, which under the very vast wording
"for the operational-search activity" Interior Ministry
could take the information and with so-called passive access to
servers through a computer terminal, so as not to impose even send a
request to the mobile and internet operators.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">In
February the parliament even rejected a request of special services
for a similar law that again would eliminate the requirement for the
information to be obtained with the authorization of a judge and an
indication of the grounds for the request. Then a check of “Dnevnik”
newspaper showed that that the text that include the law of the
Interior ministry is added in the proposal, but is unclear by whom,
although the Parliamentary commission of Transport did not vote for
it at all. After lengthy discussions MPs rejected this attempt to
smoothly track the data and decided to receive only the detection of
serious crimes and have a sanction of a judge.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">Already
in the next few days interior ministry leadership reacted strongly to
the changes and announced that it would be prevented from working on
the hot track of crimes that do not keep serious as child pornography
for example. They insisted that the work of the special services is
seriously slowed by the need to obtain court authorization.
Politicians replied that in emergency, data can be collected without
the permission of a judge and then 24 hours later is necessary to
obtain such a sanction.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">However,
only twenty days after the decision of the parliament, the Interior
Ministry has initiated changes in the law on electronic
communications and by members of the BSP, MRF and independent submit
them to parliament. They provide passive access to information
through the interface and again to cast their need for
operational-search activity. Changes caused serious disputes in
parliament on the Committee on Transport include consideration of
changes in its agenda an extraordinary and although its chairman
Yordan Mirchev (NMS) and the opposition left, the BSP and the MRF
supported the text. The Commission's decision was challenged, but the
leadership allow him to parliament for consideration in plenary.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">Subsequently,
the parliamentary committees of internal ordern and European
integration rejected the amendments. As they have a negative opinion
of the parliamentary department responsible for the coordination of
legislation with the European Union. The Ombudsman also objected.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif">National
Assembly Chairman Georgi Pirinski (BSP) a few days ago also agreed
that we must find a right balance between the rights of citizens and
the need not to hamper the work of the Ministry. He told the
opponents of the change that will help texts to be edited so that no
one could track people without control. According to him, and
according to the opposition and NMS, very suspect sought data records
for telephone and Internet traffic prints - 330 000 records per year
for 40 000 persons.”</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><b>V.
Articles about ISOC Bulgaria members disagreement with the statement
by Mr. Markovski</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><b>1.
“Trud” newspaper</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> 1.
Original: </span></span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.trud.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=142971"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-weight: normal;">http://www.trud.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=142971</span></font></a></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> 2.
Partial translation: </font>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> Members
of the Internet Society - Bulgaria expressed outrage and perplexity,
because of the support for the list of the BSP for the European
elections, claimed by Veni Markovski - Member of the Management Board
of the organization. This was published in a press report from the
Blue coalition.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> This
position is expressed in an open letter to the Board of Internet
Society - Bulgaria, signed by Ivan Kostov, Ekaterina Mihailova, Dimo
Gyaurov and Ivo Tsanev.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> The
letter states that in the formulation of political support for the
BSP, ISOC Bulgaria and Veni Markovski did not sought the views of
members of the organization.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> "We
consider inadmissible association called upon to protect the
interests of Internet users to associate itself with the party, known
for trying to restrict information rights and freedoms in Bulgaria,"
says the letter.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><b>2.
“Dnevnik” newspaper</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> 1.
Original:
</span></span></font><font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.dnevnik.bg/izbori2009/2009/05/28/726610_predstaviteli_na_siniata_koaliciia_protestirat_sreshtu/"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-weight: normal;">http://www.dnevnik.bg/izbori2009/2009/05/28/726610_predstaviteli_na_siniata_koaliciia_protestirat_sreshtu/</span></font></a></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> 2.
Partial translation:</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> Representatives
of the "Blue coalition" protest against the support of the
Internet Society Bulgaria to the list of BSP</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> Representatives
of the Blue coalition protest against support for the BSP list for
European elections, claimed by the member of the Governing Board of
the Internet Society Veni Markovski.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><font face="DejaVu Sans, sans-serif"> In
an open letter to the Board of Internet Society – Bulgaria, Ivan
Kostov, Ekaterina Mihaylova (DSB), and Ivo Dimo Gyaurov Tsanev (UDF)
expressed "indignation and perplexity" of the actions of
Markovski. Categorically say that in the formulation of political
support for the BSP by Mr. Markovski has not sought the views of
members of the organization. It is inadmissible for an association
called upon to protect the interests of Internet users to associate
itself with the party, known for trying to limited information rights
and freedoms in Bulgaria.</font></p>
<br>