By Juan Montes
MEXICO CITY--A Senate panel in Mexico proposed late Tuesday
modifications to key aspects of a telecom bill presented by
President Enrique Peña Nieto, after some opposition leaders and
Internet activists argued that the proposal gives disproportionate
powers to the government to control TV content and Internet
access.
Several groups of Internet users and activists took to social
networks in recent days to protest against Mr. Peña Nieto and his
proposal. On Monday, the hashtag "EPNvsInternet" was a world-wide
trending topic, cited more than 400,000 times and reached more than
58 million Twitter users, according to an application that tracks
trending topics around the world.
Civil organizations that defend freedom of expression, such as
Internet para Todos and Artículo 19, and popular Internet users in
Mexico such as Sopitas, who has 575,000 Twitter followers, have
voiced objections to the bill. Several hundred protesters
demonstrated Tuesday in front of the Senate building.
"The president's bill is very ambiguous and discretionary. That
opens the door to political persecution, something that has been
very present in Mexico's history," said Francisco Alanis, also
known as Sopitas. "We want the bill to limit the power of the
government and be much more explicit regarding the rights of
Internet users."
The government denies the telecom bill would violate the privacy
of Internet users. In a recent interview, Deputy Communications
Minister José Ignacio Peralta said it was necessary for the
government to have some powers for national security purposes and
to prevent cybercrime.
Some analysts said the protests are a sign of the pluralism of
Mexico's young democracy, which opened to political competition in
the late 1990s after close to seven decades of authoritarian rule
by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. Mr. Peña Nieto
returned the PRI to the presidency in 2012 after 12 years in
opposition, but many in Mexico remain wary of the party.
"This debate shows the enormous democratic progress of Mexico in
recent years," said Soledad Loaeza, a political scientist at the El
Colegio de México university. "At the same time, it also reminds us
that there are still many Mexicans who mistrust the PRI as a truly
democratic party."
Late Tuesday, the Senate Communications Committee proposed a
modified bill that strips out the obligation for telecom firms to
provide the geographical location of users if requested by
intelligence services, as Mr. Peña Nieto proposed. Also,
authorities won't be able to temporarily block signals at events or
places that authorities consider put national security at risk.
Members of the protest movement say the changes don't go far
enough. They are planning a protest march Saturday from broadcaster
Televisa's headquarters in downtown Mexico City to the presidential
residence.
In other demands addressed by the Senate bill, the country's new
autonomous telecommunications regulator will have powers to oversee
TV content, in coordination with the Interior Ministry. In Mr. Peña
Nieto's proposal, those powers were concentrated in the
ministry.
Some modifications also affect the interests of dominant telecom
giant América Móvil, owned by tycoon Carlos Slim. The company will
have to phase out charges on domestic long-distance calls in one
year instead of the three years proposed by Mr. Peña Nieto. The
bill keeps the obligation for América Móvil to complete calls from
competing networks without charge.
Mr. Peña Nieto's telecom proposal, which guides the
implementation of the telecommunications overhaul passed last year,
has met criticism on a number of fronts. The Organization of
Economic Cooperation and Development, whose 2012 assessment of
Mexican telecommunications was a key driver behind the reform, said
the initiative has "serious deficiencies." The OECD also criticized
its ambiguity regarding the protection of consumer rights.
The telecom regulator also criticized the bill for being too
rigid and invasive of the regulatory body's responsibilities set
out in the Constitution.
Lawmakers from Mr. Peña Nieto's PRI are supporting the proposed
changes to the telecom bill. Some inside the conservative National
Action Party, or PAN, are also backing the modifications. The PRI
just needs three votes from PAN senators to pass the bill, which
would then go to the lower house.
Mr. Peña Nieto's telecom bill provoked heated debate among
lawmakers. Many leftist and conservative senators who had supported
last year's constitutional changes to limit the quasi-monopolistic
practices of Mr. Slim and Televisa have been active against the
government's proposal.
"Peña Nieto's bill is undoubtedly a step back. That's why young
people have formed a civic, digital insurgency...against the
anachronism of giving the Interior Ministry powers to oversee
content," said PAN Senator Javier Corral.
The Internet movement has brought together many groups
politically opposed to Mr. Peña Nieto. Yosoy132, a social media
movement of young Mexicans that criticized Mr. Peña Nieto during
the presidential campaign in 2012, formed part of the protests.
In a video called "What's happening in Mexico?" posted on
Internet by the bloggers platform YosoyRed, another group
protesting the bill, a woman says in English: "President Enrique
Peña Nieto wants to put an end to alternative and community media.
This is censorship! This is an attack on freedom of speech!"
"Peña represents a repressive political regime that hasn't
disappeared in Mexico," said a young Mexican who identified herself
as Melissa and participated in Tuesday's demonstration in front of
the Senate. "That's why we're here."
Mr. Peralta, the Deputy Communications Minister, denied those
assertions in messages on his usual Twitter account.
"The Federal Government is in favor of freedom of expression.
With more Mexicans on Internet we'll have more opinions and they
will all be respected," he tweeted.
Write to Juan Montes at
juan.montes@wsj.com<mailto:juan.montes@wsj.com
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