Brussels, 01/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Socialist MEPs Françoise Castex (France) and Stavros Lambrinidis (Greece) have tabled a written question to the European Commission about meetings it has been holding since the middle of last year with representatives of the cultural industries, internet access providers and the owners of intellectual property rights (IPR) to prevent illegal downloading. Despite the obvious implications that a data protection agreement of this kind would have for the citizens of Europe, the talks have been held behind closed doors, excluding the European Parliament, organisations for the protection of consumer and internet users' rights and civil society in general, the MEPs lament. They state that the Commission is planning to adopt a memorandum of understanding stipulating that service providers must monitor the activities of their clients on a daily basis, disconnecting them from the internet if there are any suspicions of copyright abuse. In a joint press release, Castex and Lambrinidis express their concerns that the text may pave the way in Europe for the adoption of laws similar to the French Hadopi law, with the Commission's blessing. “It is indeed very curious that the Commission apparently decided to hold such talks without involving elected representatives of the European Parliament, data protection supervisory authorities, civil society or anybody else who might bring to the discussions differing points of view”, they stress. Castex and Lambrinidis call on the Commission to explain its position and the reason it is acting so secretly, without involving all interested parties. (I.L./transl.fl)