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January 15, 2004

Schengen information system goes biometric

With the planned inclusion of two biometric identifiers into EU Member States’ passports and ID Cards as well as Visa to the EU, it was only a question of time when the first plans to store these identifiers in an EU-wide database would be announced. The announcement came shortly before Christmas: Biometric data will, according […]

January 15, 2004

Data Dutch KLM passengers handed over to NASA

The US airline company Nothwest Airlines voluntarily handed over the personal data of possibly as much as 10 million US and European passengers to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Northwest Airlines has an alliance with the Dutch airline company KLM. The two companies have integrated their reservation systems and operate code-sharing flights from […]

December 18, 2003 · Blogs

EDRI-gram – Number 24, 18 December 2003

December 18, 2003

Dutch Lower House accepts compulsory identification

On 16 December the Dutch Lower House accepted a legal proposal to introduce compulsory identification for all persons from the age of fourteen. People unable to immediately show a valid passport, drivers license or (cheaper) identity-card risk a fine with a maximum of 2.250 Euro. Refusal will constitute a criminal offence. Every police-officer including military […]

December 18, 2003

Hustinx new EU data protection commissioner

Peter Hustinx, the Dutch data protection commissioner, will be elected today as the new EU data protection commissioner. The Conference of Presidents, composed of the heads of the Political Groups in the European Parliament, decided to back-down from their original idea to give the position to the Spanish magistrate Joaquín Bayo Delgado. He will now […]

December 18, 2003

PNR: EU Commission negotiates breach of law

On 16 December the European Commission presented the long-awaited outcome of its negotiations with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on the transfer of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data to the U.S. As expected, the outcome is a foul compromise, creating a permanent breach of law. According to European data protection principles, personal data can […]

December 18, 2003

WSIS report – the long way ahead

The first phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) ended in Geneva last week, after more than 18 months of preparatory process. Its 2 outcomes are a Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action, both enthusiastically adopted by government representatives, though hardly discussed until the last hour. A major outcome is also […]

December 18, 2003

No criminal sanctions in IPR enforcement directive

There will be no criminal sanctions in the proposed European directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights after all. In the previous edition of EDRI-gram there was a report about an amendment of MEP Mercedes Echerer (Greens, Austria) on Article 20 that would re-introduce sanctions in criminal law, even for private and relatively small-scale […]

December 3, 2003

Dutch parliament questions crypto telephone

The presentation of a crypto mobile telephone has stirred some controversy in the Netherlands. The Cryptophone has been developed in the Netherlands and is sold through a German company. The device is a combined GSM and organiser running Windows Pocket PC. The software encrypts the call when connecting to another Cryptophone. The Cryptophone should make […]

December 3, 2003

UK government's biometric plans undermined

The biometric technique that has been selected for incorporation into the new UK national ID card has been undermined in the scientific press. New Scientist has reported that the technique of iris scanning is not as perfect and infallible as the Home Secretary (Minister of Internal Affairs) has claimed. The article alleged that the technology […]

December 3, 2003

European court allows trademark Fur Elise

According to the European Court of Justice, music can be deposited as a trademark in Europe. This is the outcome of a test-case instigated by the Dutch trademark agency Shieldmark. The founder of the company Shieldmark formally sued his father, founder of the trademark agency Kist, in order to get a European trademark on part […]

December 3, 2003

French provider wins lawsuit about website

The French provider RAS does not have to remove a website from the trade-union SUD-PTT. On 24 November a Paris court rejected the claim from 2 telemarketing companies that the website was both hurtful and defamatory. The rejection is technical; the companies should have chosen 1 single argument for their complaint. The contested remarks state […]