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One of the most outstanding novelties of the Draft Telecommunications Law is the incorporation of a new regulation that would

allow the State to intervene the services that operate on the Internet

(such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Gmail and other popular applications)

in cases of emergency and with the in order to send alerts

to the public.

An obligation that traditional telecommunications operators such as Movistar or Vodafone already have.

Currently, the incorporation of WhatsApp and similar services as channels through which the Government can send alerts,

is only a declaration of intent

since the Draft General Telecommunications Law is in a public hearing period until October 13.

A deadline that the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation gives to make contributions to its articles.

Once the time reserved for the public hearing is over,

the text must be submitted to parliamentary procedures

.

In this way, the final article does not have to coincide with the text as it is currently.

Changes to the Law

"The Government, on an exceptional and transitory basis, may agree the assumption by the General Administration of the State of direct management or intervention of electronic communications networks and services in certain

exceptional cases that may affect public order, public safety and national security

", establishes article 4.6 of title 1 of the draft law.

However, as the expert lawyer in digital law, Borja Adsuara, explains, said part of the bill is

a copy of the Royal Decree-Law of 14/2019 approved last year and intended to modify the General Telecommunications Law

of 2014. The only notable novelty, which would open the doors to social networks and internet messaging services, is written below in its articles

"This power can only be exercised with respect to providers of

interpersonal communication services independent of the numbering

when they are assigned the obligation to transmit public alerts in case of major catastrophes or imminent emergencies in progress," the text collects in an unpublished form.

The nuance of "interpersonal communication services independent of numbering" is what would

allow the State to intervene (to issue such alerts) applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Gmail, Instagram, TikTok, etc.

A draft bill before which Adsuara is skeptical: "

I will not believe anything until it comes out in the BOE

. There are a lot of procedures ahead and the Government will only be able to send messages by WhatsApp or Telegram when they have assigned this obligation in the event of catastrophes or imminent emergencies. "

Waiting for parliament ... and Europe

In the event that the law ends up being approved as it is currently drafted, Ministry sources acknowledge to PIXEL that

today a service such as WhatsApp (or similar) could not intervene to send the alerts

.

It would still be necessary for the

BEREC

(the European regulatory body for electronic communications) to

establish the criteria and parameters

that guarantee that the system that sends the alerts - the app that the Government may choose - is safe and effective.

In other words,

Europe has yet to draw up guidelines to know whether services such as WhatsApp, Telegram or Instagram would be appropriate

for sending these exceptional alerts.

Once the Berec has established these criteria,

the Government must assess whether these apps would be effective and safe

to send alerts in national territory.

Even so,

there would be no certainty

that these Internet services such as WhatsApp would be the ones chosen to send an alert to citizens since the Government would continue to have other channels at its disposal, which do not depend on the recipient having an Internet connection. to receive the message, like traditional operators.

In this sense, sources from the Ministry explain that the wording of this point of the Draft Law has been designed so that

the new legislation has a vocation of permanence in time

.

In essence, they explain from the Ministry, it would be a mechanism (in addition to the operators currently included in the law)

designed to alert the population to serious catastrophes, such as a toxic cloud caused by a fire in a factory

.

They won't be able to read your messages

In case all the aforementioned requirements are met,

the Government could only send messages alerting you to dangers

through these applications.

In no case could it access your communications

(which are end-to-end encrypted) or spy on your private conversations, since it is something that can only be done through a court order in justified cases.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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