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January 26, 2005

Verizon blocks European e-mail

The large US provider Verizon (3 million DSL customers and 1 million dial-up customers) is systematically blocking e-mail from Europe, as well as from China and New Zealand. On 22 December 2004 Verizon has installed new central spam-filters that refuse e-mail from many large European providers. Attempts from European ISPs to have their mail-servers white-listed […]

January 26, 2005

Recommended reading: spyware

The US researcher Benjamin Edelman, famous for his publications about internet filtering in China and in Saudi Arabia, has turned to spyware, and the results of his research are impressive. In November 2004 he did a simple test, to find out how much junk can get installed on a user’s PC visiting a single webpage. […]

January 12, 2005 · Blogs

EDRI-gram – Number 3.1, 12 January 2005

January 12, 2005

MEPs demand new software patent proposal

61 Members of the European Parliament from 13 countries have signed a motion for a resolution calling for a new first reading of the software patent directive. According to the motion, the situation has changed substantially (with risks for public administration) and the European Parliament itself has changed, two formal reasons to be able to […]

January 12, 2005

Data retention will cost providers millions

According to a recent Dutch study into the costs of mandatory data retention, internet providers will face investments of millions of Euro. The Dutch study is the only governmental study in Europe made public so far about the costs of data retention. The EU proposal from April 2004 is very vague about the specific data […]

January 12, 2005

NL police massively fines citizens without ID

On 1 January 2005, a new law went into force in the Netherlands obliging everybody above the age of 14 to always show ID when asked. Dutch police has immediately started to use the new power by fining dozens of citizens for not being able to present a valid passport, drivers license or ID card. […]

January 12, 2005

EU Parliament adopts Constitution

Members of the European Parliament have voted in favour of the EU’s constitution today (12 January 2005), with a 500 to 137 majority (40 abstentions), setting the EU on a path toward more integration and a little bit more democracy. In the afternoon, the Constitution was celebrated with concerts, balloons and a festive debate involving […]

January 12, 2005

Commission approves contracts for international data transfers

The European Commission has approved of a new set of standard contractual clauses for international data transfers proposed by seven international business associations. The contracts are said to offer an adequate level of data protection under the EU’s data protection laws. Companies can use the clauses to provide a legal basis for transfers to data […]

January 12, 2005

Answer to RFID consultation Italian privacy authority

The Italian data protection authority (Garante della Privacy) has opened a consultation on privacy issues related to RFID tags, loyalty cards, digital TV (pay per view etc.) and video-telephoning. The Italian Winston Smith project (defending e-privacy since 1999) has responded with a specific legal proposal to control the use of RFID-tags. These mini-chips are becoming […]

January 12, 2005

EU plans database of visa applicants' biometrics

The EU Commission plans to store biometric data taken from visa applicants in the planned Visa Information System (VIS). This was decided as part of a proposed regulation, which was already due in late 2004, but was delayed until 7 January 2005. The delay seems to be due to technical problems with stacking multiple RFIDs […]

January 12, 2005 · Blogs

INDICARE releases report on DRM and consumers

INDICARE has issued a report on consumer concerns with respect to DRM. INDICARE (the Informed Dialogue about Consumer Acceptability of DRM Solutions in Europe) is a consortium of 3 academic institutions and a company from Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands, funded with EU money under the E-Content Programme. The report was written by eight different […]

December 30, 2004

EU Court confirms Commission's decision against Microsoft

The EU Court of First Instance has entirely dismissed Microsoft’s objections to a set of sanctions against the software giant by the EU Commission. The Court rules that the Commission’s decision does not “cause serious and irreparable damage” to Microsoft. Microsoft requested an interim measure from the Court that would hold up the Commission’s decision […]