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July 30, 2003

French IP commission promotes internet-surveillance

On 26 June a special copyright advisory board within the French Ministry of Culture published a report supporting government plans to increase surveillance of Internet users as part of a wider bid to stop the online copying of protected works. The Superior Council for Artistic and Literary Intellectual Property (Conseil Supérieur de la Propriété Littéraire […]

July 30, 2003 · Blogs

European Commission rejects Greek gaming law

On 22 July, the European Commission announced legal steps against the government of Greece for it’s unjust anti-gaming law. The Commission questions the compatibility of the law in question (of 29 July 2002) with the provisions of the EC Treaty on the free movement of goods and services and the freedom of establishment. The Greek […]

July 30, 2003

Report about Paris inter-sessional WSIS meeting

Between 15 and 18 July an inter-sessional meeting for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) took place in Paris, with a special focus on human rights in the information society. In this Human Rights caucus, made up of 25 organizations, 2 EDRI-members participated, the French IRIS and the Danish Digital Rights. The HR […]

July 19, 2003

Commission wants enforcement of spam-ban

The European Commission is planning to issue a Communication this autumn calling for effective enforcement of the spam-ban, EU Commissioner Erkki Liikanen said during a press conference yesterday. Action would focus on effective enforcement, notably through international cooperation, technical measures for countering spam, and consumer awareness. The proposed measures would be first tested with Member […]

July 19, 2003

French consumer unions fight CD copy protection

In a first result of legal procedures against record companies instituted by two French consumer unions, EMI Music France is condemned for deception. Within a month, they must print the following warning on copy protected CD’s: ‘Attention, this CD cannot be read by all players or car-radio’s.’ Late in May, the 2 unions started legal […]

July 19, 2003

Opinion EU data protection authorities on WHOIS data

The associated European data protection authorities (the Article 29 Working Party) issued a formal opinion on WHOIS directories. These directories associate social information (like holder’s identity and contact information) with network identifiers such as domain names or IP addresses. The opinion is focused on domain name WHOIS, especially the fact that personal data about individual […]

July 16, 2003 · Blogs

EDRI-gram – Number 13, 16 July 2003

July 16, 2003

Preparations for biometric chip in EU passports

International technical standards bodies (ISO) and civil aviation bodies (ICAO) are preparing plans for ‘globally interoperable machine readable passports’. The technology should consist of RFIDs (Radio Frequency Identification) that contain ‘details that enable the machine-assisted identification of the presenter’. These technical descriptions point at passports that can transmit biometric data over a radio frequency. The […]

July 16, 2003

RFID developers aim to neutralise opposition

Developers of Radio Frequency Identification (RFIDs) are making plans to ‘neutralize opposition’ to their new technology. The strategy is discussed in confidential documents from the Auto-ID Center, in which RFID developers work together. The documents were uncovered by Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (CASPIAN) through a security glitch on the Auto-ID Center’ website. […]

July 16, 2003

Commission workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technology

On 4 July, the European Commission organised a technical workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS) in Brussels. 39 experts, from Europe, the USA and Canada were invited to participate, ranging from Commission officials to academic experts, from data protection authorities to business representatives. Amongst the invitees were also 2 EDRI-members; FIPR and Bits of Freedom. […]

July 16, 2003 · Blogs

Four new EDRI-members

On 5 and 6 July, European Digital Rights (EDRI) held its first general assembly in Paris. During the assembly four new members were admitted from 4 different countries. With the acceptance of the Belgian Association Electronique Libre (AEL), ISOC-Bulgaria, the Spanish chapter of CPSR and the Swiss Internet User Group (SIUG) EDRI now has 14 […]

July 16, 2003 · Blogs

Danish agreement on digital civil rights

On 4 July, the Danish Committee on citizens IT-rights published a list of 10 recommendations on digital civil rights. The committee was established in September last year by the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. The recommendations deal with communication with the public sector, with privacy and registration, with freedom of expression and with […]