Hacker News Reader

Comment by NoboruWataya | Hacker News Reader

Very concerning. As a slight aside though, it is not a "secret law". All EU laws are published on its website in every official language, and the vast majority of laws (including this one) must be publicly ratified by the directly elected European Parliament before coming effective.

They should tone down this kind of sensationalist clickbait that I would expect to find in UK tabloids. They probably think it helps them impress the urgency of the matter on the public but frankly it just makes me doubt the veracity of the claims made in the article (though in this case I trust Mozilla and would hope that they are not misrepresenting the content of the law itself).

View on HN

Also, this:

> and will be presented to the public and parliament for a rubber stamp before the end of the year

That's not how the EU parliament works, they're not just a rubber stamp. The topic is sufficiently grave without the need for clickbait and painfully obvious exaggerations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_trilogue_meeting

As I understand it, the EU Parliament engages through the trilogues. Once agreement has been reached there, final approval is indeed more of a rubberstamp. (But: I'm just somewhat interested in the subject; I'm not an expert on the process.)

Once an agreement has been reached, the Parliament can still reject the proposed law (which can easily happen because a conciliatory committee does not represent all the factions in parliament and of course public outcry/petitions can change opinions).

You’re conflating two things. Yes, the EP CAN reject. In practice, it rarely ever DOES.

How the democratic process actually works is important. Public outcry often happens after something becomes LOCAL law (i.e. a few years or months down the road) implemented in a member state. The usual defense from EU-enthusiasts is then “you should have engaged in public debate, it’s too late now”. That should tell you something about the visibility and publicity of the process.

That's the definition of a "rubber stamp". They technically have the ability to reject, but they rarely do.

"Agreed behind closed doors" would probably be better than "Secret Law" but I guess its a question of brevity.

They’ve had entire programs around trying to get the public engaged in this topic.

I’ve watched many of their YouTube presentations.. all with less than 100 views when I watched them, despite them being uploaded for some time.

Why can’t Mozilla publish the agreed-upon changes? Are the drafts currently classified? If so, I think it’s okay to bell ring.

I don't think "classified" is the right word, but they haven't been published. They were leaked to various third parties, who got them to Mozilla / EFF / the other folks writing letters of protest today. Those parties haven't published the full text themselves, to protect the identity of the leaker.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com