Our work

October 25, 2004

Biometrics: EU Council wants to fingerprint every EU citizen

The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) will vote today in Strasbourg on two important reports on the introduction of biometric identifiers in EU travel documents. Both reports – on “Visas, residence permits: uniform format, photo, biometric identification” and on “Biometrics in EU citizens’ passports” are shepherded by MEP Carlos […]

October 20, 2004 · Blogs

EDRI-gram – Number 2.20, 20 October 2004

October 20, 2004

New data retention draft raises many questions

The Dutch presidency of the European union drafted a revised proposal for the mandatory storing of telecommunication data. The new proposal seems to let the members states free in choosing the time period and raises many questions with regard to its scope. France, Ireland, the UK and Sweden drafted the original proposal to the Council […]

October 20, 2004

Commission curbs Civil Society in DRM Hearing

Civil Society representatives, user and consumer advocates were not allowed to voice their concerns on social, cultural and economic consequences of a wide-spread introduction of so-called Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology during a hearing organized by the European Commission on 11 October, in Brussels. Stopping short from actually censoring these concerns, which were voiced by […]

October 20, 2004

Workshop report Copyright in Europe

Just before the Commission hearing on DRM, EDRI member FIPR (Foundation for Information Policy Research) organised a 2 day workshop on the future of EU legislation on copyright in Cambridge. In his opening remarks, FIPR chairman Ross Anderson pointed to the ‘big, greedy’ industry interests dominating the discussion about so-called Intellectual Property Rights at present […]

October 20, 2004

Swiss Big Brother Award for secret drones

The winners of the fifth Swiss Big Brother Awards were announced on Saturday 16 October, during the awards ceremony in the impressive old Steeltec industrial hall in Emmenbrücke (Lucerne). Half of the 52 public nominations were sent in for the ‘State’ category. The master of ceremony, the actor Ernst Jenni, said he was pleased to […]

October 20, 2004

Buttiglione may lose Civil Rights competences

José Manuel Barroso, the designated President of the European Commission, is working hard to find a compromise on the position of Mr. Buttiglione, the Italian candidate Commissioner for Justice and Civil Liberties. By a small majority, the Europarl Committee on Civil Liberties rejected his candidacy on 11 October, knowing well they can not oust single […]

October 20, 2004

EU software patents directive delayed

According to a report in the EU eGovernment News, the formal approval of the draft Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions by the EU Competitiveness Council has been postponed due to translation delays. “The political agreement between Member States over the draft Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions was expected to be approved […]

October 20, 2004

IRIS protest against delay French government

The French digital rights organization IRIS is upset about the continuous delay by the French government in publishing administrative decrees that would define mandatory data retention for telecommunication companies. During the open workshop in Brussels on 21 September 2004, a representative from the French Ministry announced these decrees would be published ‘within the next few […]

October 20, 2004

Europarl hearing on Safer Internet Plus programme

On 11 October, the Civil Liberties Committee of the European parliament (LIBE) organised a hearing on the Safer Internet Plus programme, covering 50 million euro for the years 2005-2008. Learning from past discussions in the European Parliament on the effectivity of this funding, the Commission wrote a pre-evaluation of the action plan. Rapporteur Edith Mastenbroek […]

October 20, 2004

Nominations Dutch Big Brother Awards

4 Big Brother Award ceremonies will take place within the next 2 weeks. The Netherlands will start on Sunday 24 October, followed by a ceremony in Austria on 26 October, and ceremonies in Germany and Spain on 29 October. For the Dutch BBA 3 persons were nominated in the category ‘Persons’. Minister Remkes of the […]

October 12, 2004

DRM: Commission not interested in Civil Society's position

Civil Society representatives, user and consumer advocates were left almost speechless yesterday, October 11, at a hearing organised by the European Commission on Digital Rights Management. Due to the invitation policy of the Commission’s DG Internal Market, the event, organized to help the Committee established under Article 12 of the EU Copyright Directive evaluate the […]