February 2, 2006

German Wikipedia back on the Internet

The German version of the worldwide encyclopaedia Wikipedia was offline for three days, after a legal complaint filed by the parents of a hacker who’s real name was mentioned online. Tron was a German hacker and phreaker who found a controversial death in 1998. Amongst other things, Tron broke the security of the German phonecard […]

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January 31, 2007

Results of the WIPO’s SCCR Special Session 1

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The broadcast treaty was the only item on the agenda of the three-day special session of WIPO’s standing committee on copyright and related rights. (SCCR). At the meeting it became clear that no-one really knew how to proceed with the negotiations. The chairman Jukka Liedes (Finland) tried […]

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May 23, 2012

Electronic identities all over the EU?

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Elektronische Identitäten für alle EU-Bürger? | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.10_Elektronische_Identitaeten_fuer_alle_EU-Buerger?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20120523] The European Commission (EC) plans to have harmonised e-signatures, e-identities and electronic authentication services (eIAS) across EU member states. On 2 May 2012, the EC published a strategy document for the setting up of children online protection systems, which also mentions […]

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February 12, 2014 · Blogs

Russia wants to ban Bitcoin?

Russia’s General Prosecutor has recently published a press release announcing that the official currency of Russia is the ruble and that, according to Article 27 of the Federal Law “On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia)”, the release on the territory of the Russian Federation of surrogates is prohibited. This includes […]

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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 […]

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March 14, 2007

UK Home Office plans to fingerprint children starting 11

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) “Restricted” documents circulated among officials in the UK Identity and Passport have shown Home Office plans to fingerprint children aged 11 years and over, beginning with 2010, as part of the programme for the introduction of new biometric passports and ID cards. The fingerprints are to be […]

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July 8, 2013 · Blogs

British Conservative's report demands long list of EU actions on gambling, including web blocking

The European Parliament has a committee dedicated to enhancing the European single market and consumer protection. This is a good thing. Imagine how such a committee would react to an industry that is hampered by protectionism, national monopolies and the blocking of foreign services that offer better value for money. Well, you don’t have to […]

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March 28, 2007

Google limits the search data retention period

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) After consultations with privacy groups in Europe and the US, Google has decided to reduce to 18 – 24 months, the retention time for data related to users and their searches. Google is presently storing search information together with IP (Internet Protocol) addresses which can be further […]

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May 18, 2016 · Blogs

Big Brother Awards Germany 2016

The annual gala for the German Big Brother Awards (BBA), organised by EDRi member Digitalcourage, was held on 22 April 2016 in Bielefeld, Germany. English-language coverage of the event was stepped up this year. While English translations of most of the laudations have been available on the website in previous years, this year Digitalcourage’s interpreter […]

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September 7, 2011

The EC tries to increase government control of the Internet

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Europäische Kommission will staatliche Kontrolle des Internets ausbauen | http://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.17_Europaeische_Kommission_will_staatliche_Kontrolle_des_Internets_ausbauen?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20110907] The European Commission (EC) Information Society and Media Directorate-General have recently drawn up a series of six policy papers intended to increase government control over the Internet. The policies have in view measures that include governmental control over […]

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April 12, 2006

Free parental control software in France

As a result of the agreement signed between the French ISPs and the Ministry of the Family on 16 November 2005, starting with 1 April 2006, most of the ISPs started providing a free of charge parental control software to their subscribers. The agreement signed between ISPs and the French authorities has followed strong protests […]

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March 26, 2008

Sony BMG accused of using pirated software

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Sony BMG has been accused by PointDev company of having used Ideal Migration, the administration software for Windows servers and client accounts, without having a licence. On 22 January 2008, a bailiff mandated by PointDev found an illegal installation of the software on four computers belonging to […]

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