Brussels, 10/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - Freedom on the internet is a subject of intense debates between those pushing for the network to be regulated on one hand and proponents of greater freedom on the other, as shown by the success of the “Pirate parties” in Sweden and Germany in 2009. In a study presented in Brussels on 9 February, entitled Freedom in the age of the internet, the Centre for European Studies described the technological and societal changes afoot and raised the question of regulating the internet. Thanks to the development of increasingly efficient software, citizens the world over can make their voices heard, stressed Swedish EPP member Gunnar Hökmark during the debate. But limiting or closing off access to the internet, as the Chinese and Egyptian governments have recently done, constitutes serious infringements of Article 19 of the Universal Charter of Human Rights of the United Nations, he said. In the opinion of Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding, the internet must not become an instrument of oppression, with recent events having shown how governments have been able to manipulate or censor the web. (I.L./transl.fl)