A majority in the Dutch Lower House is calling on the European Union to ban the sale of internet filters to Iran which would enable the authorities to control web use.

In a motion initiated by governing Labour and opposition Green Left parties, the House is asking the government to bring pressure on fellow EU members to get the measure accepted. The EU leadership is currently considering imposing sanctions against Iran for the government violence targeting protesters against president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reelection.

The Lower House also called on internet technology companies Siemens and Nokia, who earned money in Iran by selling web filter equipment, to donate these earnings to organisations which promote free and safe use of new media in Iran.

In more general terms, the Lower House expressed its desire for EU-wide guarantees for global unhindered access to the internet. Similar measures are being considered in the US, opposition conservatives and Green Left pointed out. Such an EU directive would provide the European internet industry clear guidance on how to handle regimes that restrict free access to the web, or even intimidate and check citizens who want to use the internet, the parties say.

The principle of unrestricted internet access, or 'neutrality of the web', was invoked in France recently, when the highest French court quashed a law that would allow illegal downloaders to be punished by cutting of their internet connection. The "wise men", as the court is referred to in France, ruled that "free access to public communication services online" is a right laid down in the Declaration of Human Rights which forms the basis of the French legal system. "Every citizen can freely speak, write and print," according to article 11 of the Declaration.

(anp, timesonline, lemonde)