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March 24, 2004

Free e-mail address for every Belgian

The Belgian government has announced plans to give every inhabitant of Belgium a free e-mail address. That is, every Belgian can ask for a free e-mail alias that can only be used to communicate with the different governmental authorities. This address will be included in the national population database, alongside with everybodies street address, city […]

March 11, 2004 · Blogs

EDRI-gram – Number 2.5, 11 March 2004

March 11, 2004

EU adopts contested IPR Enforcement Directive

On 9 March the European Parliament finally adopted the Directive on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. The Strasbourg Plenary passed the text, which had previously been agreed behind closed doors by a handful of MEPs in no less than 11 informal meetings with the Council, without any amendment. Although majorities were much thinner than […]

March 11, 2004

German government rejects data retention

On Friday 12 March the German Parliament (Bundestag) will discuss the proposal for a new Telecommunication Law in second and third reading. The government coalition (made up of Social Democrats and Greens) has softened many of the proposed new telecommunication surveillance powers. There won’t be mandatory general data retention and the costs of handing-over data […]

March 11, 2004

Austrian court demands control military snooping powers

The Austrian Constitutional Court (VfGH) has declared parts of the military power law (Militaerbefugnisgesetz, MBG) unconstitutional, in a decision dated 23 January 2004. The case was instigated by Social Democratic members of the Austrian Parliament. The decision does not repair all points that critics have raised. The military law was adopted in the year 2000 […]

March 11, 2004

Privacy-penalty for French Scientology critic

In France the owner of a website was convicted to pay a penalty of 450 Euro for publishing personal data without first registering with the Data Protection Authority, the CNIL. On 25 February the appeal-court of Lyon confirmed the earlier ruling, even though the judges decided to suspend payment of the penalty. Remarkably the website-owner, […]

March 11, 2004

Proposal EU Parliament to reject PNR transfer

The European parliament’s committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs is preparing to vote on a proposal by MEP Johanna Boogerd-Quaak to reject the draft decision of the EU Commission under which airline passenger data are transferred to the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. The proposal calls upon EU Member […]

March 11, 2004

Cappato report about privacy adopted

On 9 March the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the implementation of the Data Protection Directive of 1995 (95/46/EC), based on an own-initiative report by the Italian radical Marco Cappato. The report is very critical about the lack of adequate privacy protection in Europe. The report centres on data protection within the third pillar […]

March 11, 2004

New EU-plans to promote broadband access

The European Telecom ministers have welcomed new action plans from the Commission to promote broadband access in Europe. The Commission calls on Member States who have not yet put in place a national broadband strategy to do so without delay, with a focus on delivering broadband in under-served areas via a variety of platforms. This […]

March 11, 2004

Recommended reading: Access to EU documents

On 30 January 2004, the European Commission published a report about the effectiveness of EU legislation on freedom of information. Article 255 of the treaty establishing the European Community, implemented through Regulation 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001, grants a right of access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents to any Union citizen and to […]

February 27, 2004 · Blogs

EDRI-gram – Number 2.4, 27 February 2004

February 27, 2004

Fast track procedure for IPR Enforcement

The European Union’s disputed Directive on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights is scheduled for a fast-track procedure that may lead to it being adopted by the European Council in little more than two weeks. At present, it is still under discussion in the Brussels Parliament. The Rapporteur, French Conservative Janelly Fourtou, and the Council […]