This quote is by Evelyn Beatrice Hall and appears in her book *The Friends of Voltaire*, published in 1906, and it is more relevant than ever. Anyone who follows us on LinkedIn may have noticed that, alongside our day-to-day work, we are currently spending a great deal of time dealing with legal proceedings brought against us by the public prosecutors’ offices in the cantons of Vaud and Valais. These authorities have the audacity to send orders to various internet service providers demanding that they block websites they find objectionable. However, they do not seem to possess a great deal of technical expertise, as they sometimes refer to ‘séquestre’ (seizure) and at other times to ‘blocage’ (blocking); at one point they demand a block at DNS level, and at another at URL level – which is technically impossible. They cite an article in the Code of Criminal Procedure which allows investigating authorities to seize items relevant to the offence. However, a provider’s correct DNS functionality is not, in fact, an item relevant to the offence. If anything, the website containing the illegal content would be the item relevant to the offence, and the web host would have to be served with a removal order.
In one case, an order was issued to block the website of the group ‘Grondesments des Terres’. Of course, one may hold political views that differ from those of the left-wing climate activists who are campaigning against the CO₂ emissions of the concrete manufacturer Holcim, but political censorship is unworthy of a democracy such as Switzerland. Nevertheless, we stand alone, as Init7 is the only provider taking legal action against website blocking. The market leaders – Swisscom, Sunrise and Salt – block websites without question, even though they have a much larger budget available for legal proceedings. However, challenging unlawfully ordered website blocks is not a means of increasing profits, and so the three ‘S’ companies meekly bow to state authority.
Most of the cases are currently pending before various courts. In the ‘grondementsdesterres.org’ case, however, we were able to achieve a success, as the Vaud Cantonal Court has overturned the blocking order. Around three weeks later, the public prosecutor’s office instructed the providers concerned – around a dozen – to remove the DNS block. The judgement is therefore final.
Because we did not comply with what we consider to be an unlawfully issued injunction, I was personally fined: I was ordered to pay CHF 6,000 for ‘failing to comply with an official order’. This alleged ‘offence’ took place at our headquarters in Winterthur, and I therefore expect the local authorities here to deal with the case. However, the judicial authorities of the Canton of Zurich have no desire to do so, and I am forced to go to the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona so that I may be ‘sentenced’ at my place of residence, rather than in distant Lausanne.
If you’ve read this far and are thinking ‘WTF?’, you’re in good company. I’d much rather be telling you some great news from our engineering team – but unfortunately I’m being tormented by pages and pages of legal jargon that even native speakers find overwhelming. But that’s what you have to put up with when you stand up for the right to say what needs to be said. In my case, I don’t exactly have to fight to the death, but it might well result in a fine of over 6,000 francs and a criminal record. And if I were to refuse to pay, I’d have to serve the sentence in prison, at 100 francs a night. I’ve had a go at visualising what that might look like using the AI image generator ‘Nano Banana’.
P.S. Given the highly compelling story of a telecoms engineer in Syria who was forced to work against his convictions under the autocratic Assad regime, my 6,000-franc fine is practically a drop in the ocean. You’ll find the link to this moving story further down in the newsletter.
Fredy Künzler
Civil rights activist
