(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has voiced concern about the implications for the news media of a criminal law amendment passed by the Ecuadorean congress on 30 November 2005 under which journalists could receive heavy prison sentences for broadcasting or publishing a telephone conversation without the express permission of the participants. “We are aware that […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has voiced concern about the implications for the news media of a criminal law amendment passed by the Ecuadorean congress on 30 November 2005 under which journalists could receive heavy prison sentences for broadcasting or publishing a telephone conversation without the express permission of the participants.
“We are aware that journalism is based on a code of conduct and professional ethics that clearly exclude telephone espionage, but the concept of ‘express permission of the parties’ could be used unfairly against the media if, for example, a source later retracts,” the press freedom organisation said.
Reporters Without Borders added: “Furthermore, the penalty for breaking this law is out of all proportion and we hope legislators will introduce the necessary guarantees to ensure that press freedom is not violated.”
The criminal code amendment, passed on second reading in a full session of Congress, introduces an article punishing any “interception, interference, publication or dissemination, without the express consent of the parties, of information transmitted by telecommunication services or other means of communication.” It bans the news media from broadcasting a clandestinely-recorded telephone conversation without permission from all participants, under pain of imprisonment for up to nine years.
The proposed law, which must now be approved by the government within 10 days, has caused a storm since the congressional vote. Parliamentarian Ernesto Pazmiño of the Democratic Left Party told the daily “El Comercio” that it “violates the media’s right to free access to information sources.”
In the same newspaper, parliamentarian Alfonso Harb of the right-wing Social Christian Party (PSC), the bill’s originator, stressed the need to respect privacy: “The law does not violate press freedom. It punishes espionage. The aim is to avoid political blackmail by means of tapped telephone calls.”
The proposed law is a consequence of the accusations of phone tapping and spying on government opponents that sullied President Lucio Gutiérrez prior to his ousting on 20 April.
